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Romans 12:1-8
August 24, 2008
First Presbyterian Church, Tallahassee, Florida

One Body in Christ

Whatever happened to lazy August? You remember, back in the day when school started following Labor Day. When summer’s slower pace and relaxed attitude lasted clear to when you could turn the air conditioning off. August’s of old, without tropic storms and flood waters. August, when the news cycle slowed, and family vacations reigned. Oh, lazy August, where did you go?

Today, August 24th, public schools are back in session. Summer vacations are only a memory. The rain continues to fall, and have you been following the news? Newscasters in August 2008 have been busier than mice in a cheese factory.

The olympics have conducted a hostile takeover of NBC…and MSNBC, and USA, and CNBC, and some other networks I’d never even heard of.

Then there’s the far-too-real hostile takeover of Georgia by Russia.

And if you get tired of the Olympics coverage, or overwhelmed by war updates, just turn the channel to politics. You’d think the election was September 4th, not November 4th. The Democrats are scaling the Mile High City, while the Republicans are skiing over the frozen tundra to St. Paul.

And I’m afraid, in August 2008, if we look closely at our culture, amidst all the busyness we’ll see a deep brokenness. We sure are busy, but we’re also hiding many bruises.

Nations rise up against nations. Swords are drawn and wielded in the US political process. A root has risen up in Beijing amidst reports of closed door agreements over previously sacred human rights.

And then we read Paul. As usual, meddling with our worldview, transforming our all-to-conformed thoughts. Paul writes,

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of one another.

I’m sorry, but Paul must be mistaken. I mean, he wasn’t writing in August of 2008. He didn’t know the issues we face today. We who are many, are one body in Christ?! Not with the Olympics playing, the US staring down China for the most medals. Not with party conventions designed to break the country into red states and blue states, values voters and working class Hillary supporters. Not when the Russian behemoth flexes it bear-like muscles.

We who are many, are one?! Paul is so yesterday. In August 2008, if you ask me, Paul is really showing his age.

Atlanta’s newspaper last week contained an article on the continuing sad saga of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial planned for the Mall in Washington, D.C. Have you heard of the struggles? First, the King children tried to swindle a licensing fee for the use of Dr. King’s image in publications raising money to build a national memorial of Dr. King himself. The Memorial Foundation refused to pay the children, saying it wasn’t out for profit, just to fund a monument in King’s honor. Eventually, the King family backed off.

Then last year, another controversy arose, this time over the choice of the sculptor for the monument. Selected for his artistic ability and experience, a committee of mostly African-Americans chose Lei Yikin for the project, a sculptor from, you guessed it, the People’s Republic of China. Days later American protesters raged. The Washington Post carried the headline, “A King Statue ‘Made in China?’” Letters to the editor poured in, fuming that a Chinese master sculptor was chosen rather than an United States citizen.

“I have a dream” King said, “that my children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

We’re making progress, perhaps, but King’s monument itself reminds us we’re not there yet.
We who are many, are one?! Maybe in your day, Paul, but not August 2008.

A report last week on the olympic basketball game between China and the US reminded me of a story told by a friend of mine who participated in a student exchange with China during college. The reporter described how some Chinese young adults gathered together to watch the game, many many friends crowding an already crowded dorm room. The eager fans scrunched cross-legged on the floor, knee to knee, shoulder to shoulder. The reporter noted how tightly they were squeezed into the room. How Americans would never put up with such encroachments in our personal space.

After my friend studied in China, a Chinese student returned with him to study in America. When my American friend showed the Chinese student an American dorm room, the student asked, “But where are your roommates?”

“Oh, he’s in class at the moment.”

“But where are the others?”

“No others, I just have one roommate.” The eyes of the Chinese student grew wide.

“In a room this size in China,” the student remarked, “10 or 12 students would share the space.” The room was a typical US dorm room. Students would be up in arms if even three had to share.

We who are many, are one?! Not when individualism drives American culture, architecture, design, personal habits, and infrastructure. We who are many, are one?! Not when each American household has 3 TVs but can’t call their next door neighbors by name. Not when we, those of us who go to church, drive by dozens of other Christian gatherings before arriving at the church home that makes us feel most comfortable.

We who are many, are one?! Paul, oh, Paul, what were you thinking?

And we can’t explain away Paul’s difficult instructions by saying, “Well in Paul’s time there weren’t as many cultural differences between communities.” Or, “Paul knew the Roman church really well so he could push them out of their comfort zone.”

Nope. When he wrote Romans, Paul had never stepped foot in a Roman church. They may have been partners in the faith, but they were strangers in the flesh. Paul had no qualms to preach the gospel he knew to be true. To witness to Christ, even if it rankled some feathers.
We who are many, are one Paul wrote, going on to describe the different gifts of each of us. But why are we one?

Paul says, not because it’s politically correct to be non-judgmental. Not because Asia’s communitarian spirit may have something to teach us. We who are many, are one not because it makes us feel good, or sounds nice, or because it fits on a bumper sticker. Not because it makes a touching Olympic slogan, or gets someone elected. Not because it appeals to our American ideals. Not because anything that we do, or feel, or initiate. We who are many, are one because…. because of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead.

Seminary classes inevitably bring about plenty of awkward moments. One of my favorites occurs when a professor asks a particularly difficult question to the class. “Why do you think that Greek word is a objective rather than subjective genitive?” “What did Karl Barth say about the problems of natural theology?” “What must you always remember when teaching adult education classes?”
And, following these difficult open-ended questions, the class will become painfully silent. Students will rack their brains for the answer, someone will nervously flip through the text book, and then, with hesitation, a quiet voice from the back of the room will say, Jesus?

For Paul, Jesus is almost always the answer. We who are many, are one because we have all been claimed by Christ.

In Jesus Christ, God’s loving purpose for the world is fully revealed. In Jesus Christ, are sins are wiped away and we are shown how truly to live in justice, goodness, and peace.
Paul begins chapter 12 with the simple word, “therefore,” but it’s on that hinge that his entire argument rests.

I appeal to you, THEREFORE, brother and sisters, by the mercies of God, Paul writes.

Paul writes 11 chapters explaining Christ’s love and sacrifice, and at the therefore he makes his pivot. Act therefore, Paul pleads, in response to Jesus Christ who has already come and turned the world upside down.

Earlier Paul writes, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts….THEREFORE

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set me free from the law of sin and death….THEREFORE

While we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly…God shows God’s love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us…THEREFORE

Because of God’s revelation of love in Jesus Christ, we are called not to be shaped by the world–conformed to the world–but to be transformed, to be shaped by grace. The shape of grace that shows God’s inclusive love for all creation.

For we who are many, are one body in Christ. We’re one body in Christ even in the election season when our differences become clear and our spirits challenged. We’re one body in Christ even during the Olympics when countries compete for glory over one another. We’re one body in Christ even and especially when war rages and governments do little to stem the flow of blood. That reality is tough to envision now, but it’s our call to work for it with all we have. For one day, God will gather together every nation on earth, and together with Republicans and Democrats, Russians and Georgians, Kings and Chinese college students, we will all sing God’s praises.

Because of Jesus Christ, how are you transforming your world? In relationships. At the office. Through international partnerships. Through teaching our children. Shaped by grace, how does your life testify to Paul’s ageless call, We who are many, are one body in Christ.

In his book Christian Doctrine, Shirley Guthrie describes the perfect community, the divine community of the Trinity, and in doing so calls us all to service.

Guthrie writes, “If in the divine community [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] there is no above and below, superior and inferior, but only the free society of equals who are different from each other but live together in mutual openness, respect, and self-giving love, so it is in a truly human society of people who are sexually, politically, and religiously different from each other.”

Friends in Christ, in August 2008 Paul is as contemporary as can be. Therefore, we are all, one body, in Christ.

Amen.