I recently read a sermon in which the author stated that they “prefer to look at the church as a symphony or a tapestry”. While I can appreciate the idea of being a piece of a bigger artwork, I can’t embrace that the analogy of the church as a tapestry or a symphony, and I’ll add to this original pairing, a mosaic, are better imagery than the church being the body of Christ and made up of many different members just as the human body has many different parts…the passage from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27…
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
The reasoning behind this preference was that this passage has “ableist connotations.” Yet the passage seems to make it very clear that all the parts of the body are necessary and have a place, regardless of purpose and ability and in another passage, that the parts are all given gifts according to the Spirit.
The webpage for the ELCA Disability Ministry actually references that very passage at the top of their page and uses the phrase “body of Christ” throughout the text on the page. In speaking with someone who is part of the ELCA Disability Ministry team, it was clear that this is a passage of scripture that is very much held up by that community. And why wouldn’t it be? Clearly, there is room in the body of Christ for many members regardless of their abilities, just as the human body is made up of many parts:
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. (1Cor. 12)
All the parts of the human body serve a purpose, the greater purpose of helping to keep the entire body functioning well. We like to ascribe higher importance to certain parts of the human body…say the heart and the brain? Because let’s face it, if the heart stops, we die. Same with the brain, if it stops sending signals to the heart to beat, we die. Yes, we tend to think that some parts of the body are more important than others and in truth, I can lose my thumb and continue to live, though struggle in using the hand with no thumb; but if my lungs stopped working I would die (without the use of a machine). So one could argue that the analogy fails. But not really.
In the body of Christ, all the members are necessary and important. And:
22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, (1 Cor. 12)
Sound familiar? This sounds like language of flipping things upside down, as in the first shall be last and the last shall be first. This is equalizing language.
24 But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. (1Cor. 12)
And that last phrase, “…the members may have the same care for one another,” is at the heart of why I have to counter the original thought that a symphony, tapestry, or my added mosaic is a better analogy than the body of Christ. As beautiful as these pieces of artwork are or can be, they are inanimate objects and not living creatures. If a wrong note were played in a symphony or a wrong instrument used, I may notice. Same if a thread were cut in a tapestry or a tile missing in a mosaic. And while I can appreciate the analogy of our collective beings creating a gorgeous piece of art, a tapestry or mosaic is not a living thing.
Rip a tile out of a mosaic and the adjacent tiles are not impacted, unless you disturb too much grout. Cut a thread in a tapestry, or enough threads, and you make a hole, but the adjacent threads feel no pain. I, on the other hand, if I were to twist an ankle I probably would experience pain in my knee, hip, or even in my back from trying to compensate and protect my ankle. Consider liver or kidney damage, when those organs are not functioning well other parts of the body suffer. Pain and illness can and do have ripple effects.
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it, (1Cor. 12)
And so it is with the body of Christ image. When my neighbor child goes to school hungry day after day and cannot focus on their teacher and schoolwork, does that move me to act? When someone is not welcomed because of who they are and love, can I say to them there’s room at my table? When conflicts arise between brothers and sisters and reconciliation and healing seem impossible, does my heart break, can I offer to hold their hand at least? Brokenness ripples out far and wide. Being members of the body of Christ we are called to stand in the messy, painful muck of life with each other as well as dance together in times of joy and celebration.
Richard Rohr writes in one of his daily mediations…
Paul’s brilliant metaphor for this living, organic, concrete embodiment is “the Body of Christ”: “Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit, because all those parts make up a single body, so it is with Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12). At the heart of this body, providing the energy that enlivens the whole community, although each in different ways, is “the love of God that has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).
This Spirit is itself the foundational energy of the universe, the Ground of All Being, described in the first lines of the Bible (Genesis 1:2). Union is not just spiritual poetry, but the very concrete work of God. It is how God makes love to what God created. Paul writes that it is precisely “in your togetherness that you are Christ’s Body” (1 Corinthians 12:27, JB). By remaining—against all trials and resistance—inside this luminous web of relationship, this vibrational state of love, we experience a very honest and healthy notion of salvation. If you are trying to do it alone and apart, it is not salvation at all, but very well disguised self-interest.
A symphony note or instrument, a tapestry thread, or a mosaic tile knows nothing of the similar pieces next to it. A ripped out tile, a cut thread, a broken instrument reed is shown no love, empathy, or compassion by the neighboring parts. We on the other hand, are very aware of the brokenness in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. Even if sometimes we work very hard to bury it or deny its existence.
And maybe that’s a piece of why I reacted so strongly to the idea that a tapestry might be a better analogy. When it seems that we are living in times of “what’s in it for me?”, “that’s not my problem.”, or “I’m too busy” instead of our words and deeds being aimed at the common good, I need to hold on to imagery that says we’re in this together and if one of us is hurting, others will notice AND offer care and love, whatever that might need to look like.
I, and all souls throughout all of time, are part of the living body of Christ, the church. I recently spent a weekend listening to some pretty heavy stories of loneliness, pain, rejection, and other hardships that were turned around and redeemed as a result of other living souls inviting, showing compassion, walking alongside, and simply loving. I am part of that living body, not a tile or thread in an inanimate piece of art, however beautiful it might be.
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