Bible reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.

It seems to be widely accepted that there are 78 different organs in the human body. The most vital are considered to be the skin (which we probably don’t think of as an organ), the brain, heart, kidneys, liver, pancreas, stomach, small and large intestines, and lungs (I’m not sure why they are so far down the list as I’d have thought they were essential!). The picture becomes less clear once we start to zoom in a bit closer: do we count our kidneys and lungs, for example, as one organ or two; and what about the bones which, in our list, have all been lumped together? And, of course, if we were to focus in to the microscopic level we’d see the complexities of the various structures and cells which, when put together, form our bodies. Truly, to echo the writer of Psalm 134, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”!

Microscopes lay over 15 centuries into the future when the apostle Paul was evangelising, visiting new churches and writing letters. And basic discoveries about human anatomy, and a belief that invisibly small creatures might cause illnesses, only came about 100 years after his lifetime. But, while he might have had little (or inaccurate) knowledge of how our bodies work, he at least realised that different organs have varied functions which all contribute to the health and well-being of the whole body. He also realised, as do we when we are experiencing toothache, a bad back or when we’ve hit our fingernail with a hammer, that pain in one small part of our body affects every other part; it can’t easily be ignored. In other words, although our bodies are made up of many parts, they are all connected together.

Describing the Christian Church as a body was, as you may already know, one of St. Paul’s favourite analogies or metaphors: “All of you are Christ’s body”, he says, “and each one of you is a part of it”. And, in a rare burst of comedy in Paul’s letters (I don’t get the impression that he had a great sense of humour), he describes different parts of the body having a conversation: “If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I don’t belong to the body’, that would not keep it from being a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I don’t belong to the body’, that would not keep it from being a part of the body. Just imagine: if the whole body were just an eye, how could it hear? And if it were only an ear, how could it smell?” The Corinthian Christians must have been rolling about with laughter when they read that – or perhaps not.

As I’ve said, this picture of the Church as Christ’s body is a speciality of Paul, used by no other Bible writer; indeed, it’s quite possible that he invented it. However thinking of communities in this way wasn’t actually a new idea; it had been put forward by the Greek philosopher Aristotle over three centuries before, and is mentioned by quite a few other writers. Of course the Christian Church didn’t exist then, and Aristotle gave the term “body” a political meaning: talking about the people who make up the population of a city (indeed the very word “politics” comes from the Greek word “polis” which means “a city”).

Aristotle believed that the primary purpose of a community is to instil good character traits in its members so that they will be able to carry out their functions in a dignified way. Those members are like the organs of a human body, which can only be healthy if every part is working well. These civic organs have many functions such as labour, agricultural, manufacturing, commercial, financial, bureaucratic, legal, military and many more: each person must make their own contribution to society. Aristotle says that the body needs every member and each member needs the whole body; however he believes that citizens need the community more than the community needs any one person. For Aristotle, the community is ultimately more valuable than individuals – which sounds more like Communism than Christianity.

Perhaps we’ve got off the point a bit, although I always find it helpful to look at the background of a Bible passage. The picture of Christ’s Church can be looked at in two ways. One, which especially comes to the fore during this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. is to think of all the different Christian traditions and denominations which exist, such as Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, Pentecostal or whatever: are these all parts of one single body? When one looks at the ways that these groups so often disagree, with some even claiming that the others aren’t even “proper Christians”, one starts asking a lot of questions! Yet all these groups, and indeed thousands of others around the world, will affirm that they are part of Christ’s Church.

Well, denominations didn’t exist in the first century, and the Church numbered only a few thousand people in total. Nevertheless, by the time Paul was writing several Christians communities had come into being, spread across the Mediterranean area from Rome to Turkey and Palestine, possibly reaching as far as Spain, North Africa, Egypt and even Ethiopia. I’m sure thar these communities reflected their specific situations: the largely Jewish church in Jerusalem was very different to the sophisticated church at the centre of the Roman Empire or the multicultural one of Corinth. There was no “one size fits all” and, although Paul, Peter and their colleagues worked hard to make sure that they all kept the same Christian beliefs, each church almost inevitably developed in its own way – which caused problems! No wonder Paul had to write, “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace”: that wasn’t always easy to do! But he largely succeeded, as we know (for instance) that the various churches didn’t ignore each other in times of need but supported each other financially – and not by computerised bank transfer! As a Catholic writer puts it, “The amount of documentation regarding mutual care and interchange among the communities is impressive”.

Having said all this, I don’t think that Paul was mainly thinking of churches of different types and in different places when he wrote about “the Body of Christ”; I think that his focus was on life within individual congregations. I say this because you’ll find the longest passages he wrote on the subject in the letter to one specific church, the church at Corinth in Greece. And this, to be honest, was an awful church – you wouldn’t have wanted to be part of it. It was divided along racial and class divisions, its members were taking each other to court to settle disputes, the wealthier people who could get to their Communion feasts early were scoffing all the food and leaving nothing for the poorer folk who could only arrive later, the services were utter bedlam with self-styled “prophets” shouting over one another to see who could get heard – this church thought that it was wonderfully spiritual but, to Paul, it was an utter disaster.

And so he cries out, “Stop! Just stop what you’re doing! We’re not in competition with each other, we’re not saying that Christians with certain talents or gifts are better than any others. Just learn to respect each other, learn to be thankful for any gift that God has given you, work in harmony for everyone’s benefit. That is how Jesus will be glorified among you”. These Christians, although enthusiastic about their faith, has failed to understand that they were part of one body – a body which, moreover, should have been under the direction of its brain or head, Jesus Christ. Everyone was doing their own thing in a self-centred and uncoordinated way, and the result was chaos.

We’ve all heard teachers say to an unruly class, “Come on, settle down, and listen!” And that’s what Paul is saying here. Those Christians needed to realise that being part of a church isn’t only about what one can get out of it, nor does it mean that we see worship services as no more than events to attend and enjoy, like a theatre performance or a concert. No; we must also think of what we can put into the church to help it function better and grow stronger. Some of those things are in fact very mundane, such as welcoming visitors, making the tea, or cleaning the toilets: you may not be able to lead worship but have a particular talent for carrying out those tasks!

I think you can see where I’m going with these themes of Christian unity and the Body of Christ: I believe that they aren’t abstract theological concepts but down-to-earth practical ones. Thinking first of the broader ecumenical picture, what’s to stop churches with very different traditions working together, sharing resources and learning from each other? We might all be strengthened by doing that, and our mission to the outside world would be transformed. When I arrived in Llanedeyrn, Glenwood church and St Philip Evans Catholic church were having some joint Bible studies; I wouldn’t be surprised if sparks of disagreement flew at times but I’m equally sure that members of both churches had their horizons broadened! In my time in Ipswich several of the town’s churches banded together to offer winter night shelter accommodation for homeless people: none of us could have done that alone. Yes, our Christian traditions have different ways of understanding the faith: but none of can ever know everything there is to know about God – indeed we must never claim that as God is far bigger, far more incomprehensible, than we can ever imagine.

And what about the local church? Well, I think that St Paul – and I – have made it clear what God expects of us. He has graciously given each of us and abilities which may indeed include preaching, leading worship or even the mysterious speaking in tongues – but which also include administration, hospitality and something simply called ‘helps’. It’s up to every Christian to find out what their gifts may be and then, as they are able, to offer them for use in their church. The simple job they are able to do may just be the one which is desperately required; they may not be God’s ‘mouth’ or ‘eyes’ or ‘nose’ – but they might just be his ‘little finger’! Paul said that, when each separate member works as they should, in love, a church grows and becomes strong. I’m sure you don’t want to be the missing part that makes it grind to a halt!