One Bread, One Body
Third Sunday after the Epiphany, January 23, 2022
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a • Luke 4:14-21
You know the way a fragment of a song will start nibbling at your memory? Well, I had one this week. I couldn’t quite remember it all, but I knew it was important for this week’s sermon. Fortunately Sr. Pamela could fill in the words I needed. Thank you Sr. Pamela! You may know it too. We sing it here sometimes. It goes:
One bread, one body, one Lord of all/one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we though many, throughout the Earth/we are one body in this one Lord.
You can see why I was thinking of it. The lyrics spring straight out of our reading from Paul’s first of his two letters to the Corinthians.
First century Corinth was a bustling, cosmopolitan city in the south of Greece. Its inhabitants and sojourners came from all over the Roman Empire. They would have varied in skin color, native language and customs. There would have been slaves, freed slaves, and those who had never been slaves. Religiously, many would have worshipped the traditional Greek and Roman gods. There would have also been Jews. Many of all of these stayed with their practices. Some converted to Christianity.
We know that for eighteen months, in 51-52, Paul lived in Corinth, staying with Aquila and his wife Priscilla, who had been expelled, with all Jews, from Rome by the Emperor Claudius in the year 49. Paul writes these letters to the Corinthian church a few years later from Ephesus.
Paul knows this Christian community well. It was clearly an interesting one. In these letters we should remember that we are only ever hearing one side of the conversation, but it’s clear that within the mix, there is an outspoken spiritually-gifted elite at large that is not working for the well-being of the whole. Some members clearly feel much more special than others, while others are considered of no or little value.
Such a sadly familiar story.
Paul’s message is clear: yes, God has created each one of them, indeed of us, as individuals, but each belongs to a much larger body, the body of the community, and each has a valued role within that community.
I think the language of the body, while metaphorical, is a very good one. Think about our own bodies. While there is some disagreement about precise numbers, we have eleven or twelve organ systems (skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, digestive etc), and around seventy-eight organs themselves (a number that increases to 315 if you start counting each individually). And of course if you start examining each of them in more minute detail, the numbers of individual parts goes through the roof, but you get my point. Our bodies are complex miracles of separate pieces working together that generally serve us well.
I wonder how you think about the Holy Innocent’s community? Where do you see yourself in it? Perhaps you are a longtime member. Maybe more newly arrived. Some knowing you’re here for just a brief time. Some forever. Do you see it as a whole or in parts? Whatever your experience, I hope you all feel seen: masks not withstanding. I hope you know that each of you is welcomed and treasured.
Next week, at our annual meeting, following directly after the 10 o’clock service, we will be both acknowledging and thanking individuals in our community, while at the same time, celebrating the entire community and who we are and what we have accomplished together.
We can both be treasured individuals and important members of something much larger. A truth that can sometimes get crowded out in the noise of immediate needs.
Every community has something that pulls its members together: perhaps ties of blood, location, shared interests, common purpose. A community of faith has attracted and retained members interested, even committed to pursuing a relationship with the divine. A Christian community pursues that through Jesus Christ. An Episcopal community of faith is recognizable through its particular practices and beliefs.
From the beginning of Christianity, the two primary sacraments, ‘the outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace’ have been Baptism and the Eucharist. Baptism being the individual’s acceptance of God’s invitation into relationship, witnessed by the community. The Eucharistic being the shared meal where we all remember God’s saving action through time and we re-embrace Jesus’ gift to us all, by literally taking it into our bodies.
So much of our faith takes us into mystery. Perhaps that’s not surprising considering the majesty and mystery of our incomprehensible God. It’s all so complex. At the heart of our Christian mystery lies Jesus. The Jesus we know as a historical figure: walking, teaching, healing, and eventually dying on the cross. We also know another Jesus, don’t we? The risen incomprehensible Jesus Christ who, in the resurrection and ascension, became liberated from any constraints of body, time, or space. The risen Christ who is in us and among us, inviting us to know and live into the One-ness of the mystery of the Communion of Saints, our Beloved Community, the Kin-dom of God.
If you remember the words that I say every Sunday to invite you to the Table:
Wherever you are in your journey of faith, you are welcome at God’s table of abundance.
We who are many are one body because we all share in the one bread, the one cup.
It is by knowing ourselves to be part of this holy community, by remembering and growing into an understanding of what our faith is all about, and by being nourished at this holy table that we become one with the Risen Christ. Our differences fall away. We become and we know ourselves to be the one body.
Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man no more. Many the gifts, many the works, One in the Lord of all.
One bread, one body, one Lord of all/one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we though many, throughout the Earth/we are one body in this one Lord.
One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.
Hymn: One bread, one body
And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.
Gentile or Jew, servant or free, woman or man no more.
One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.
Many the gifts, many the works, one in the Lord of all.
One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.
Grain for the fields, scattered and grown, gathered to one for all.
One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.
And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.
Words: John B. Foley, S.J., 1978 (1 Cor. 10:16-17; Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 12)
Music: John B. Foley, S.J., 1978: harm. by Gary Alan Smith, 1988
Copyright: 1978, 1989 John B. Foley, S.J., and OCP.