1 Corinthians 12:12-18, 24b-27
I discovered this week that humans are made of star dust. Star dust. Well, there is a bit more to
it, but the reason you and I have iron in our blood and calcium in our bones is because stars
created those elements. Our wonderful human bodies are made of matter that once was a star.
Perhaps on a scientific level, that isn’t terribly exciting, but on a metaphoric level, it’s
mindblowing, especially as we consider the Body of Christ. We just heard Paul proclaim that
through faith we are now no longer under the law but rather through baptism we are one in Christ
Jesus. And the divisions we face, Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, and I would add
Democrat or Republican, rich or poor, threatened Hispanic immigrants or unthreatened white
earlier immigrants really have no place within our faith community. Through baptism and faith,
we ALL belong to Christ. We just celebrated the baptism of Jim and Roxy and soon we will
stand together as members of Christ’s body declaring our faith as we welcome into our church
our new brothers and sisters in Christ. READ 1 Cor. 12:12-18, 24b-27
Today we celebrate baptism and new members joining our church. A blessed day to be sure! In
celebrating both, I chose two passages from Paul. Both seeking to end divisions, both claiming
unity in Christ. In the baptismal formula (Gal. 3:26-28) we are baptized into Christ, clothed with
Christ which ends all racial, class, and gender divisions and has inspired justice-seekers and
peace-makers throughout the centuries. Yet, you might be saying, “We are still waaait-ting.”
But let’s also see the beauty in Paul’s teaching. Historically, entrance into the community was
through circumcision and the law. Paul is now transforming that. Now that Christ has come, the
rite of entry into God’s people is no longer circumcision, which is available only to males, but
baptism, available to all. “As many of you (male and female) as were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with Christ” (3:27). There is no longer male and female for all are one in
Christ. That is a radical teaching of equality and inclusion. “This move is so subversive of
normal Greco-Roman law that it hardly makes sense. But it is Paul’s claim about God, based on
scripture and the lives of women and men claimed by the Holy Spirit” (Working Preacher, Sarah
Henrich).
Roxy and Jim, in your baptism you have a new identity. You were baptized into Christ and
clothed with Christ. Sometimes clothes tell us a lot about a person. My friend Marcia loves the
SF Giants. She wears many things, shirts, earrings, purse, socks that identify her as a huge
Giant’s fan. It is part of her identity. Jim, part of your identity is being Lisa’s husband and
recently retired. Roxy part of your identity is being Alex’s friend and a senior in High School.
Yet in baptism, your identity is now in Christ. It might be like wearing a jacket of love. Through
baptism you are wrapped up in Christ’s love, and you are claimed as God’s beloved child. Wear
Christ’s love boldly and have confidence in Christ as your new identity. Because you belong to
Christ you are now heirs to all of God’s promises.
First, we are baptized and then we take our place within community. For Jim and Roxy this
happened on the same day. For many, our baptism was long ago yet lasting in love. Once we
are wearing Christ’s love, we seek to find a community of faith where we can worship, learn and
grow. Lisa, Jim, Alex, Roxy, Nancy, Stan and Connie have claimed St. Andrew to be their home.
Soon they will become part of this church, part the body of Christ.
Paul’s beautiful image of each one of us being members of Christ’s body is an effective
metaphor for our church community. Receiving new members and Paul noting the members of
the body might lead us to think of this as a one-to-one comparison. But the word translated
“member” can also be translated as “part” or “limb.” So, Paul is making a radical claim in using
this metaphor. Yes, many of us are members of this church, some soon to be, but Paul is also
saying that we are bound together in a profound way like your arm is bound to your body, like
your eye enables your whole body to move through the world. We do not let go of our limbs
easily and we do not let divisions or difficulties separate us from our community of faith.
Through baptism, through Christ, we are interconnected as a community of faith. “Just as your
own human bodies each contain many different parts, together they make up your one body
(12:12). All the different members live and move and have their being as part of a greater whole.
“For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body … and we were all made to drink of
one Spirit” (12:13). (Working Preacher, Frank Crouch). In the Spirit, some are the eyes, some
are hands, some offer different gifts. Yet all gifts, all parts are needed, and each member is
valued. We each come together as part of what and who God has called together to be the
church.
Soon we will all join in the Apostle’s Creed. “Theologian Karl Barth once remarked that the line
‘I believe in the Holy Catholic Church’ does not mean that we believe in the church. It means
rather to believe that God is present and at work in the church, that ‘in this assembly, the work of
the Holy Spirit takes place….we believe that in this congregation the work of the Holy Spirit
becomes an event.’” (Sermons.com, Thomas Long). We each have a part to play in responding
to the Holy Spirit, being the hands and feet of Christ in Aptos, being the body of Christ, the
church.
We each have a part to play because God has arranged the members. These seven new members
will be woven through our community. God continues to knit together this body of Christ. God
wraps us in love through baptism and then God cares for each one of us as we live in community.
One of the greatest gifts of the body of Christ is that we are on this journey together. We are not
alone. God is with us. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is
honored, all rejoice together with it” (12:26). That’s why we take the time to share our prayers
and concerns in worship. So that we can pray for you in your grief and celebrate you in your joy.
That’s what the body of Christ does.
The church’s common experience of God’s grace in baptism, makes clear that we all share the
same water, the same promise, the same Spirit, and thus all are equally part of the same body.
(Working Preacher, Brian Peterson)
Our physical bodies are made of star dust, but we are created in the image of God to be the hands
and feet of Christ in the world. Bring your gifts, your parts, your inspiration to this community
so that we can work together for good in the world. The same way we might not fully
understand how our bodies are made up of star dust, we might not understand this spiritual
connection that is the church, the body of Christ. But let us trust that God has arranged it
perfectly. Here we find fellowship, worship and communion within Christ’s body because God
has arranged it that way. “God has arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as God
chose.” Stan, Nancy, Connie, Alex, Roxy, Lisa and Jim today you are the body of Christ and
individually members of it. Amen.
