Sermon by Canon Henry Whyte

Sunday 23 August 2020

 

A Healthy Body

Romans 12. 1-8.

 
One of the most interesting books that I have read recently is “The Body” by Bill Bryson. Its now available in paperback. Its well written and its full of wonderful information about the physical bodies in which we live. For example, we have around 40,000 species of microbe living within in us and then, believe it or not, all of us have more than 30 trillion bacterial cells inside our bodies. Its truly amazing and the way in which all the different parts of our bodies work together is quite astonishing.

Our Epistle reading for today speaks of another kind of body. It is the Body of Christ, which is one of the New Testament pictures of the Christian church. The Head of the body is Jesus Christ and we as Christians are like the other parts which make up the whole.  So the picture is that we are joined to the Head and also to our fellow Christians in the same kind of way that our physical bodies are united together. 

Now we know very well  that the different parts of our human bodies have different functions and depend on one another. So it is in the Christian church; every Christian has a particular part to play and that’s what the second half of our reading is all about.  

Let me pick out two main points and the first is that we are to think with sober judgement about the particular gifts that God has given to us as members of the Body of Christ. There is always a danger that we might think too much of ourselves but we can go in the opposite direction and think we have nothing to contribute. So our own sensible realism along with the perceptions and the wisdom of other people can help us to see more clearly how it is that God has gifted us. 

Now our reading mentions just a few of the gifts which are given to Christian people. They are the gifts of prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing, giving, leading and showing mercy. Its not an exhaustive list as other gifts from God are mentioned in other places in the Scriptures. Some gifts may have a more public profile than others but every gift is important alongside all the others. I often think that the service of those who make the tea and coffee on a Sunday morning is one of the most important ministries in the church. Sadly, we still cannot enjoy it at the present time but, when we think about it, this work of service makes a huge contribution to the development of friendships and fellowship not only in St Alfege’s but also in countless other churches. 

So our Epistle reading encourages us to ask ourselves – do we know the gifting that God has given to us? Do we know the role, or roles, that God wants us to play not just in the life of the church but outside the church as well? Its an important question because as we fulfill the roles that God had given to us, as we use the particular gifts He has entrusted to us, so we will find more and more fulfillment in our lives. 

And that’s the second main point out of our reading that I want to highlight – that God’s gifts are to be used, used for the benefit of others, used to build up the Christian church and used for the common good as we live out our daily lives. 

I continue to enjoy a quote that I came across the other day. Its an African proverb and it goes like this “that if you think you are too small to make a difference you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito”! 

Tiny mosquitoes  can do a lot of  damage but every gift from God, however small and seemingly insignificant, can build up the Christian church in its life and mission. Just as that every tiny part of the human body, fully alive, healthy and working well contributes something of value to the whole so it is in the Christian church. Yes its true that millions of Christians have the gift of serving, millions of Christians have gifts of healing, millions of Christians have gifts of teaching but it is also true that every single Christian will exercise such gifts in his or her own unique way, making a unique contribution in the particular situation  in which she or he is living. 

Let me change the picture as I finish. If we are chosen as members of a rugby team and we do not turn up to play, or if we do not pull our weight or if we are sent off the field for some infringement then the whole team suffers and it will surely be less effective that it might be. So in the Christian church every Christian is needed, every Christian has a particular part to play in the life and mission of God’s church.  I have a part to play; you have a part to play in God’s purposes to make the world a better place. And that is, as I understand it, is the message for us from our Epistle reading for today. Amen.