January 27, 2019

Susan Adams

Epiphany 3     1 Corinthians 12:12-31a     Luke 4:14-21

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Many years ago, 1983 to be exact, I was at the World Council of Churches Assembly in Vancouver.

A very small woman stood to preach at the main Assembly Eucharist presided over by a line up of robed church statesmen and attended by some of the most notable Christian leaders of the world at that time, all of them male – Bishop Desmond Tutu among them, he wasn't an archbishop then. The small woman's name was Lois Wilson, she was the moderator of the United Church of Canada and she spoke on body language.

From my place in the congregation two main reactions were visible: there was much fidgeting and wriggling on the one hand, and on the other a sort of frozen shock. What was this little woman going to say? I can't remember the details but I have always remembered the core of her message:

What do we want the Body of Christ, the Church, to say to the world, to say to those who are struggling for life and freedom, to those are locked in by their own fears and despair, to those who can't see the implications of their own actions? What message does the body language of the church give to them?

Feminist discourse was just beginning to make an impact, but even so, to talk about 'body-language' was a brave departure from the usual sermon topics. 'Bodies' were more likely to be thought of as carnal, earth-bound and sinful by comparison to the spiritual-gnosis sought after by those who would have us look toward heaven rather than toward earth; they were female and a bit grubby – a source of temptation for men, still. So you can imagine the impact of this small woman setting out to talk about the 'body-language' of the church to this august gathering!

Bodies have been troublesome for women for centuries: many of us grew up with the idea that our body was not perfect, that we did not meet the ideal body-shape to fit what was beautiful or attractive. Many women, young and old, suffered physically as well as emotionally as they tried to control their bodies. We still hear, even today, of girls struggling with anorexia, or bulimia, or one extreme diet after another. Body image seems to be issue for more girls than boys though of course not exclusively.

I have never forgotten the first time I was challenged to think of the church in relation to body-image! I find myself reflecting on the notion often as I wonder about the church and this community in particular: we speak of ourselves as the 'Body of Christ' and I wonder what our body-language says today.

I giggle nervously when I read the passage we heard from Paul's letter to the Church in Corinth this morning! He was very brave, or foolish to use the human body as an image of community relational health. Corinth was at the crossroads of trade routes and a rather wild place known for its vice throughout the world of the time. Paul wasn't too keen on physical bodies, certainly sex was off the agenda as far as he was concerned. If you couldn't manage celibacy then, and only then, marriage was the better part. But he did use a body image to impress on his hearers their mutual need for each other, and the need for mutual respect. The body was not complete without all its parts – the weaker bits as well as the well functioning bits – they all have their place and all need respectful care.

So it is with the Body of Christ: no matter our cultural background, no matter our theological perspective, no matter our place of origin, no matter our gender, no matter our social location, our wealth or education. We need each other to be a fully functioning body. So while I struggle with Paul's attitude to women in general, he is a bit of a misogynist, I applauded his struggle to hold together the social attitudes he grew up with, the contexts into which he speaks, and the challenging, life changing epiphany of his conversion to following the Jesus Way. It was not surprising he slid away a little from his earliest enthusiasms regarding the freedoms to be found for women and slaves as the Body of Christ! He seemed to feel the need to uphold the reputation of the Christian Way in the midst of very different social morés when it came to women.

Don't think that it was easy to preach the message of Jesus in those times of oppression and persecution. We know Paul spent time in prison, in chains for what he was saying. We know from our own experience that speaking across the grain of 'common wisdom' brings, more often than not, ridicule and resistance – we only have to think of our how long it has taken to get climate change onto the political agenda for change, and how many deniers there are still who promote fear of change to the common practices we are used to; think of those who sail the seas and seek to protect the oceans and sea-living species from the ravages of fishing and continuing oil exploration, and from our propensity to use the oceans as a rubbish dump; think of those who proclaim paying a wage sufficient to live on is too expensive and will erode profits.

The message Paul wants his hearers to understand is that we need each other, that together we are the Body of Christ. Alone we are not The Body, alone we cannot do what is required to ensure the freedoms to be found through the life and message of Jesus of Nazareth are distributed to everyone; the hope to be found in the new-life of the risen Christ; the confidence boosting affirmation we are loved by a generous God.

Paul was a great PR man for this new movement of Christ-followers. And like all good PR people today he knew how to appeal to the hopes and aspirations of his audience. He knew reassurance and hope were more likely to appeal than fear (though he could use that too), he knew joy and love and the fulfilment of dreams were likely to get a hearing. Body-language becomes his dominant motif for persuading his hearers to listen!

He knew his own body was not perfect, just as most of us feel and think we know our bodies are not perfect, He encourages us to love each other anyway – that is together with all our imperfections and self-doubts that we can the 'Body of Christ' bringing the good-news of God's life and hope to others as well as to ourselves. We may not be the perfect body, but together we are good enough to do what is required for love and justice.

For this core message of the gospel, for the expectation of what that Body is to be doing, we turn to the gospel writers, in particular to Luke this morning. As Luke tells the story, Jesus re-emerges from the desert after his Epiphany,' filled with the Spirit'. After teaching around and about for a while he comes to his home-town and attends the synagogue like any good Jew, and reads he from the scroll of Isaiah that sets out the agenda for his ministry: economic sustenance for the poor, freedom for those captive by unjust systems, insight to those blinded by the status quo and empty promises, and liberation to those living under oppressive colonisation!

Initially what he said was well received by those who were in the Synagogue with him, until that is, they realised he was challenging them to change their life and relationships and to do something about the situation in their town too. He was not just talking about other places other people and other situations – when they realised this they 'were filled with rage', Luke writes, 'and drove him out of town'.

Saying words about love and justice, peace and respect is not enough.

They are a beginning but only that; the 'truth' of what we mean by them will come to light by our body-language; by what we do collectively as the Body of Christ and as individual members of that body.

I am challenged, as this new year gets underway, wondering what the body-language of St Matthew's will say this year. I am wondering who will be affirmed by what we do; what priorities will be evident by how we enact our statement of aspirations.

I know that it is me, along with you who can ensure that our body-language is in line with Isaiah's message that Jesus read that day in the synagogue. Jesus set out for his followers, and for the townsfolk who knew him, what he believed the good-news of God to be about and what it meant to be filled with the life-giving, energising Spirit of God.

I am looking forward to working with you as we shape the body-language of St Matthew's this year.