Beloved
sisters and brothers, let us look to the Lord.
May
only God’s word be spoken,May God’s word be heard.
In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
One
of my favorite geeky things to do is listen to Ira Flatow and Science Friday on
WBHM, our local NPR station. This last Friday one of the topics they talked about was turning GirlScout cookies into Graphene, which is essentially a two-dimensional sheet of
carbon fiber that is only one atom thick; at the molecular level it kinda looks
like chicken wire. Instead of using really pure, really expensive materials
which has been the conventional way to produce very tiny amounts of this
material; scientists at Rice University in Houston showed that Graphene can
instead be made from anything that has carbon, which is the basis for all organic
life on this planet.
This is astonishing research that opens the door a little bit more towards a future that promises extremely light, extremely thin, and extremely strong structures in the development of nanotechnologies. Producing Graphene is still really expensive but with this new understanding that it can be made from virtually anything, we have the promise that it will someday be part of assemblies and systems that will transform our day to day life in ways that we cannot begin to imagine.
This is astonishing research that opens the door a little bit more towards a future that promises extremely light, extremely thin, and extremely strong structures in the development of nanotechnologies. Producing Graphene is still really expensive but with this new understanding that it can be made from virtually anything, we have the promise that it will someday be part of assemblies and systems that will transform our day to day life in ways that we cannot begin to imagine.
Another
amazing bit of creation and science is this human body of ours which has 206
bones, 639 muscles, and about 6 pounds of skin; along with ligaments,
cartilage, veins, arteries, blood, fat, and all those other nasty bits. Every
time we hear a sound, every time we take a step; every time we take a breath,
hundreds of different parts work together so that what we experience is a
single movement, our minds and bodies working as one unit. The greatest
scientists and engineers continue to struggle to achieve anything
remotely approaching it in mechanical form. The human body represents one of
the most complex systems in existence.
I
think that this is probably why, the body is one of the most powerful images
for the church that is offered in Scripture. The metaphor conveys both
complexity, and organic unity. Archbishop Tutu might say that this is also an
expression of Ubuntu, that “I am, because We are.”
Often
we can find that it is difficult to name our place in the church, to figure out
what it means to be a member of the Body of Christ. Though, and probably not surprisingly,
when we’re asked to envision ourselves as a part of the body; children and
adults have very little difficulty in identifying themselves as hands, feet,
brains, or of course funny bones!
So,
part of Paul’s metaphor emphasizes that there are a number of aspects essential
to what it means to be God's church; that we are linked with one another in a
relationship that we can't dissolve any more than we could have created it
ourselves.
Something
else that Paul uses this metaphor for – something that's become a popular word
in Anglican circles, is interdependence.
Paul
is saying that we need one another. He is not saying merely that the poor need
the rich, the sick need the healthy, and the weak need the strong to protect or
rescue them; he's saying that we all need one another.
Ubuntu,
I am, because We are.
The
gifts of the Holy Spirit, that we have each been given individually, are also
needed by all of us corporately for the benefit of our community.
These
are gifts that are needed for our health as a body and as members of it, to be
sure, but they are also needed for more than that. They are needed because, in
Paul's terms, we're not just parts of a body; we're members of the Body of
Christ.
That’s
part of what we heard in our readings last week that expressed the theology of
Third Isaiah: that who we are as God's people is intimately tied up with our
call to engage in God's mission.
God
has made us one Body of Christ, a sign – a living sacrament - for the work of
what God in God's grace is doing in the world.
St.Teresa of Avila puts it something like this:
Christ has no body on
earth but ours, no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours are the eyes through
which the compassion of Christ looks out upon the world. Ours are the feet with
which he goes about doing good. Ours are the hands with which he blesses his
people now.
We
experience what it means to be Christ's Body as we engage in Christ's mission
in the world, both within and beyond these walls.
If
we want to know more about what that means, we have a really good starting
point in our gospel reading for this Sunday. In it, Luke describes Jesus at the
start of his public ministry, claiming a combination of passages as his
mission; and in claiming this as his mission, Jesus offers himself and his life
as a prophetic sign that "today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing."
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
These
are inspiring words; they were chosen by our Presiding Bishop Katharine as a
theme for her ministry, it highlights the continuing work of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals to eliminate extreme poverty worldwide, and it is the basis
for the network of over 600 Jubilee Ministry Centers throughout The Episcopal Church
including the 11 that I provide support for in this diocese.
But
they're not just words! What would it mean if we really believed that in Jesus,
the words are being fulfilled today? How would we respond?
Also,
I think that today’s reading from First Corinthians fits perfectly with the
gospel. Our gospel reading shows Luke's version of Jesus, the Christ, saying
clearly what his program, what his mission is.
If,
we who seek to follow the Way of Jesus are the Body of Christ, this is the mission
that we're called to be engaged in.
Perhaps,
as a member of the Body of Christ, I should put that invitation up on my
bathroom mirror, to see at the beginning of my day, to be reminded of as I make
decisions throughout my day:
“The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of
the Lord's favor."
One
of the things that I think we should draw from this passage is the simple fact
that: I'm not Jesus, you and I are not Jesus, and none of us can save the
world.
But
we are the Body of Christ – here and now. We are not required to win some kind
of pageant or even be able to get our ‘act’ together; it is by God's action,
with Jesus having done all of the groundwork that is necessary.
We
are called to live into that identity, and to engage in the mission that comes
with it – not later, when we think that we have our act together, or when it's
more convenient, or once the kids are in college, or after some kind of cosmic
sign. We have our cosmic sign.
We
have the life, the teaching and healing, the confronting and defeating of
worldly powers, the death on a cross and the resurrection by God's action of
Jesus, the Christ.
“The
Spirit of God was upon him, because God anointed him to bring good news to the
poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and the year of
the Lord's favor.”
And
here and now, we are the Body of the Christ, the Anointed. It's true. It's
powerful. It’s Ubuntu, it’s “I am, because We are”. It’s this scripture being
fulfilled in our hearing – and in our doing.
Thanks
be to God!
Amen! Alleluia!
Amen! Alleluia!
