Have you ever had one of the moments when you see or hear something and it seems so outrageous that you think ‘has the world gone mad, or is it me?  Because one of us doesn’t have too good a grasp on reality right now; and I’m betting it’s the world.’  Do you know that feeling?  I had one of those moments a few nights ago when I saw a commercial on TV for a product that presented itself as an important part of a weight-loss program.  It featured a trim-looking Christine Dougherty who claims that she lost 54 pounds on this diet.  Now, so far it could be an ad for any number of legitimate programs or one of dozens of good healthy food lines in a supermarket.  But, no, the secret of Ms Dougherty’s slimming success, the elixir of this radical health, the source of this wondrous transformation of her life was something the commercial called the Fresco Menu … at Taco Bell.  Taco Bell – health food, Taco Bell – health food.  It doesn’t matter how many times you say it it just doesn’t sound right.  Now I’m not knocking fast food.  I confess that I love it.  I eat way too much of it.  But even as a fan, let’s get real about this, let’s call it what it is.  It tastes great but it’s not healthy.  Even the low calorie options on fast food menus are unhealthy.  They contain entire salt mines, buckets of carbs, and all manner of life-shortening substances.  Even if they do taste excellent and I’m addicted.  But we live in a society that is so hung up on personal appearance, including weight, that advertisers will … perhaps not downright lie, but will, shall we say, intentionally present facts in such a way that viewers form incorrect opinions.  You know what I mean, the small print that is so small you can’t read it, and even if you could it’s not on the screen long enough for you to read.

Don’t you hate that message that society preaches to us all the time, ‘you must look like this…’  We’re obsessed with our bodies and are forever carving, chiselling, moulding, tightening, reducing things, removing things, straightening things, thickening things, shortening things, increasing things, replacing things, changing the colour of things.  And I’m fed up with it.  Your body is a gift from God: love it, care for it and enjoy it.  Anyway, I’m on a roll here, and it’s not actually what I want to preach on so I’d better get on with the real subject.  But the real subject is, actually, a body.  But not any old body.  The body in question is, as Paul puts it in the epistle reading from 1 Corinthians 12, the Body of Christ. 

“Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?  But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would the body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.  The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"  So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.  Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

Here is an amazing picture of the Christian Church.  A body of members each with gifts and each using those gifts for the good of the church, building up each other’s faith.  Not considering itself better or more important than the other parts, but serving the body.  Each and every church member is a part of Christ’s body, without exceptions.  Do you ever feel insignificant in church?  So and so is more important than me?  It’s very possible to think that, but it really isn’t the case.  You see, what God has given to you he has given to no-one else.  To use Paul’s image - you are a hand, a foot, a finger, a knee, a liver, a kidney, maybe even a tiny hair in the inner ear which controls a person’s balance and without which a they would fall over.  You may feel insignificant when you compare yourself to others in the church, but it isn’t true.  You have something to offer that no-one else can offer.  There is no room in the Christian Church for false modesty.  It’s not humble to deny you have skills and talents when it’s obvious you do have them.  And it’s not arrogant or proud to recognise your gifts and to be honest about it.  That’s where the word ‘gift’ is so useful.  If you say to someone ‘look at the gift I got for Christmas’ who gets the credit?  Do you get the credit?  No.  You didn’t do anything - you just received it.  The person who gets the credit is the giver.  This person is generous and imaginative and loves you very much.  The giver is the big deal - not you.  And that’s very convenient for us when it comes to spiritual gifts, because if you say ‘hey, you know I think I have a gift for preaching, or pastoral visiting, or listening, or administration, or singing, or teaching kids, or cooking meals, or chairing committees or whatever, then who looks good - you?  No.  You’ve said it was a gift, it was nothing you did.  The glory goes to the giver, to God.  So it’s good and proper to recognise your gifts and, of course, to use them in the church for everyone’s benefit. 

You may be a different shape or size from everyone else, and have a different function, and that means you’re unique and valuable.  You are a gift to St John’s and without you we just wouldn’t be the same.  We’d be the worse for your departure.  Losing you would be like an amputation.  I should just say that there is one body part that the body of Christ does not have - an appendix.  You know an appendix is useless.  It doesn’t do anything except grumble from time to time.  Very occasionally it can explode and then the whole body is poisoned and in critical danger and will die unless there’s urgent surgery.  Think about that.  No-one here is the appendix in the body of Christ, although we’ve all been in churches where there are people who think they’re appendixes.

Paul gives rules for the body.  First, he says the body is a unit, and all the parts work for each other.  Why preach?  Why be an usher? Why read a lesson publicly?  Why teach a Sunday school class?  Why serve on the vestry?  Well, not for your own sake.  Paul says we shouldn’t do things in church for selfish reasons - hey everyone look at me, or to get some form of self-congratulations ‘phew, now I’m worthy of God’s love because I was on hospitality this week.’  No we do it for the good of the body.

What about the leaders of the church, the pastors and, in our tradition, priests.  Well, they are just normal members of the body, no more or less important than anyone else.  Now, imagine for a moment if the President of the US were incapacitated for a long time.  Although he is the nation's chief executive, his absence would have little impact on the work of the country. Government would continue.  No one would even notice that he was not present.  Now imagine if the garbage collectors all over the country went on strike. The nation would grind to a halt partly because of the mess and partly because after a short while there’d be a health crisis.  It’s been estimated that a three-week nationwide strike would paralyze the country. Who is more important - the President or a garbage collector? It’s the same in the Body of Christ, the church.  The seemingly insignificant ones are urgently needed.  As Paul reminds us, "The head cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you!' On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable" (I Cor. 12:21-22). 

Second, Paul says that the members of the body should be working together, just like a human body.  ‘When one suffers we all suffer.  When one receives honour, we all receive honour.’  When one of us receives good news that’s good news for all of us.  When one of us does something really good, all of us receive the congratulations.  I’m proud to be the rector of St John’s because when one of you serves the community in some way I get a kick out of it – someone on a mission trip overseas, or in a voluntary group in the county, or helping someone in their job, or just doing something unseen around this place cooking or cleaning or something.  And it makes me feel good because we all benefit.  And I like to mention good deeds that members of St John’s have done when I’m talking with people outside the church.  This is the body I’m a part of and I’m proud of it.  Again, in a healthy body when one member is in need all the others rush to its aid, when one has some good news all the others celebrate. 

Imagine someone cuts their finger.  The finger is hurting and needs attention, so the rest of the body springs to its aid.  The legs and feet take it to the bathroom.  The other hand (the one without the cut finger) reaches and opens the medicine cabinet.  The 7 good fingers and the 2 thumbs pick up a band-aid and peel off the wrapper and put it on the hurt finger.  But that’s not all.  All the while the eyes are working to make sure they get the right thing.  And those parts of the body that don’t need attention at that moment and can’t do anything useful to help the finger take a back seat and let the finger have centre stage.  Before the finger got cut, for example, the person may have been making a sandwich and the stomach was rumbling and getting ready for lunch.  Well, now that finger is in urgent need the stomach gives way to the weaker member and it stops grumbling and allows the whole body to focus on the poor finger.  And all the while, of course, the brain is controlling it all and making sure these body parts are acting for the good of the finger.  And so, says Paul, that should be how we act as a church.  Everyone instinctively rushing to the aid of the weak or suffering member, using their gifts to help as they can.  If they can’t help practically then sitting back and praying.

 
And third, Christ is the organiser and manager of this body.  After all, it is his, so surely he should be in charge.  He is the brain of the body - controlling, moving, deciding, and always with the good of the whole body as his intention.  Paul says, “God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

You might prefer the picture of an orchestra.  Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, did some research into how members of the various sections of orchestras view each other.  They interviewed eleven major symphony orchestras.  The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy. "Loud" was how brass players were described. Woodwind players seemed to be held in the highest esteem.  They were described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical.  With such widely divergent personalities, how could an orchestra ever come together to make music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they submit their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music.  The conductor, of course, being Christ.

May he organize his body here at St John’s the way he wants.  Each fulfilling their God-given role and living in peace and harmony for God.