Sermons

"The Nature of Christian Community"

Sermon by the Reverend Gregory A. M. Cole
Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 25, 2004

Many of us will participate in two important events next Sunday. The first is the annual meeting of Emmanuel Church. You will hear the rector’s “State of the Church” address, probably approve the nominating committee’s slate of candidates for vestry, and review the parish’s financial life. Of greater importance, you also have opportunity to engage in the ongoing conversation regarding the purpose - the mission and ministry - of Emmanuel Church.

As some of you will have guessed, Sunday’s other important event is the Super Bowl, made even more significant by the participation this year of the Patriots. I know that some of you think that this second event is far more important than the first. Certainly, the sense of anticipation is greater – particularly for you football fans. In the spirit of excitement surrounding next Sunday’s events, I want to begin this sermon by contemplating the role of the center on the offensive line of the New England Patriots.

Some of you have jerseys with the names and numbers of your favorite players. Names like Brady, ­Faulk, Vinateiri and Law may be familiar even to casual fans. However, I will bet that no one has a jersey with the number 67 and the name Daniel Koppen on it. Yet, Koppen will play one of the most critical roles in Sunday’s game.

The job of the offensive lineman is to protect the quarterback, who is often the star of the team. Author Mark Bowden compares these three hundred plus pound players to the dancing hippos in Disney’s Fantasia. He says, “Footwork is as careful and deliberate for them as for a ballerina.” [i] Until I read Bowden’s work, I had no idea that the center has one of the most important jobs in football. The center has to read the defense of the opposing team and shout out code to the other linemen moments before snapping the ball so that, if necessary, they can change strategies. If he misreads the defense, the quarterback becomes vulnerable, thereby jeopardizing the entire play.

The center has one of the most difficult and least rewarding roles in all of sport. He is largely invisible unless he makes a mistake. However, the quarterback knows. He knows that without a good center he cannot do his job. That sense of mutual trust, of teamwork, does not escape the quarterback. No matter how skilled he is, he needs to surround himself with people who have very different but equally important jobs.

It can be somewhat of a cliché to use sports analogies as teaching tools. However, despite that risk, I want to use the above example of teamwork as a way to give life to Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 12. He says that we are baptized into one body. We are the body of Christ. From this body metaphor, Paul develops his theology of Christian community. Just as a body does not consist of one part, say one giant nose, the body of Christ does not consist of one part. Paul says that within the one body exist many parts - eyes, noses, feet, arms, if you will.

As we have noted, all players on a football team are important. However, clearly we value quarterbacks and running backs more than we do centers. If you doubt this, just look at the correlation between positions and salaries. On the other hand, Paul takes a profound, even shocking direction with his body of Christ theology. He says, “the members of the body that appear to be weaker are indispensable, and those members that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect” (12: 22-23). He says that under no circumstance can we say to another member, “I have no need of you.”

Next Sunday, at the other significant event, we will discuss the mission of the church. I anticipate that we will do so with Paul’s words in mind. Our mission is to live according to the theology expressed by Paul. We must continually ask ourselves some basic questions. What does it mean in practical terms to be the body of Christ? What are the implications of never saying, ‘I have no need of you'? In what ways do we hold up the “giftedness” of each member of our body? How do we break bread together, study, play, and reach out together, in ways that bring the love of Christ to life for each other and for those whose paths cross our own?

Frank Griswold, our Presiding Bishop and Primate, sent out a letter to the Episcopal Church on Thursday. He reminded us that we do not answer these questions alone, nor do we live out our Christian faith in isolation from each other. Here is a paragraph from Bishop Griswold’s letter.

(By) virtue of our baptism into Christ, dimensions of "the truth (of Jesus)" are reflected in each of our lives. The search for truth is a corporate undertaking. As the mind of Christ is formed in us by the Spirit, we are able to discern Christ in the lives and experiences of one another. In this way, the dimensions of truth we share are enlarged. We grow to maturity in Christ by encountering one another with our differences, rather than in spite of them.[ii]

You and I have the awesome privilege of participating together in the body of Christ. Emmanuel Church is not just a building into which we walk each Sunday morning to worship and perhaps have a cup of coffee. Emmanuel Church is a living, breathing, diverse body of people who seek together to know Christ and to discern how that knowledge of Christ affects the ways that we live. Our active participation in this body is a profound gift to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us.

Where else in this world can you go and hear that no matter where you come from, what you have done, what color your skin, or how much money you have, you are welcome? Admittedly, we sometimes fall short of that ideal. Sometimes pride, selfishness, arrogance, or some other sin gets in our way. However, we come back to Paul’s words, “We are baptized into one body.” We remember his admonition that we can never say, “I have no need of you.”

This sermon is an invitation – an invitation to each of us, whether we have been here for fifty years or five weeks, to be active participants in the body of Christ. As a member of that body, a member of the team, you can play a vital role. Each of you has unique gifts, fresh insights, and valuable stories to tell. Here we grow together, we search for truth, we look for the image of God in each other, we seek and serve those who need our care, and we serve as a team, each having an invaluable and indispensable role to play. My prayer is that in 2004, we will journey ever deeper into the body of Christ, experiencing the wonder and joy of God’s presence, the love and fellowship of each other, and the challenge and privilege of reaching out to those who long for God’s all encompassing love and care. Amen.

[i] Mark Bowden, “A Beautiful Mind,” in The Atlantic, January/February 2004, p. 196.

[ii] Received via email from the Episcopal News Service, January 22, 2004.