How do we make sense of the church? If you look around, you can see that we are a diverse group. We come from different parts of the country-some of us from different countries. We come from different faith backgrounds and perspectives. We have different tastes and preferences. How do we make sense of this group? The Apostle Paul started many churches and he wrestled with the same problem. There was the nave, eager church in Thessalonica-First Thessalonians is full of teaching and pastoral encouragement. There is the loving and deeply committed church in Philippi-Paul can't thank them enough for their ongoing spiritual and physical support of him and his ministry. There is the troubled church in Galatia-Paul's letter to the Galatian church zigzags back and forth between positive affirmations and angry vitriol aimed at the enemies who are troubling that church and, quite frankly, troubling him. And then there is the Corinthian church. Headstrong, opinionated, talented, wealthy, confused, combatitive-in short, they were a mess! Throughout the Corinthian correspondence, Paul tries to walk a fine line between encouragement and correction, but sometimes he explodes in truly impressive exhibitions of righteous indignation. Like the parent of an adolescent, Paul loved the church in Corinth, but they just wore him out.

So many different churches, so many thoughts and feelings about each of them-how would Paul ever find a unifying metaphor to describe "The Church"? Not just the church in Corinth, but all of his churches-from the nave to the headstrong, from the immature to the mature? In trying to finding a unifying theme or metaphor, Paul had to battle the current notion of what a religious institution was in the first place. In the ancient Roman world, the practice of religion centered around a specific god who was located in a specific place and was mediated by a specific priest. When the people of Paul's world thought about "being religious," it usually entailed bringing a sacrifice to a local temple to appease a certain god. But that is not what Paul understood as the church-the church met, not in special edifices, but largely in people's homes. Worship did not consist of bringing sacrifices, but brining yourself sacrificially. Wherever God's people gathered for worship and service-there was the church. It was not located in time and space, but in spirit. So how to describe this new phenomenon? Paul had to reach for an image that would invite participants into a fuller and richer experience as the church. An image that honored the diversity of the members and the dynamic quality of the whole. And what image did Paul come up with? A body image. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. Paul did not come up with a functional image or a geographic image, but an organic one. For Paul, the image of a body captured the essence of being together in Christ-it was a living, breathing organism with the capacity to move and mature and grow.

And so the body image is the metaphor that not only described the early church, but describes us as well. The words that Paul spoke to that rambling, bumbling, stumbling church in Corinth "Now you are the body of Christ" are spoken to us today" "Now we are the body of Christ." So what do we make of this body image? We use it frequently, but I am not so sure it always speaks powerfully to us. How does this body image speak to us and shape us as the church? First of all, like it did in Paul's time, this body image jars some of our fundamental conceptions of what it means to participate in the religious life. If the Christians in Paul's time were inclined to think of church in geographical terms (think temple), we are inclined to think of it in mechanical terms (think institution). This is especially true, I think, for Presbyterians-after all, we are named for our governing structure-Presbyterian, the church of elders. The mechanistic view of the world grew up with the Age of Enlightenment, in a time when the mysteries of universe yielded to the persistent testing of science. Virgin births, an earth-centered universe, the divine right of kings all were called into question. The universe played by certain predictable and knowable rules-and over time, institutions adopted this mindset. They lived into this new reality and set up rules to govern its life as well. It's not that the church didn't have rules prior to the Enlightenment, but they weren't held up as the pinnacle of human and naturalistic expression. So just as the body image in I Corinthians ran counter to the prevailing worldview of Paul's time, it runs counter to ours as well. Institutionally, we tend to be much more comfortable with flow charts and organizational grids than we are with organic images that are unpredictable and at times inscrutable and even chaotic. So when we think church, I am not sure that our first image is organic. An organic image, even though it is unpredictable and chaotic has many advantages. It suggests that we can grow and grow up. It means that we are not static but have the capacity to respond and move. It means that we can have a living breathing relationship with each other and with God. It is a rich image-but we do struggle with it.

But I think there is another reason why this body image is often hard for us. I think many of us are leery of being called the body of Christ because we are leery of our own bodies. We don't warm to scripture's body image because we have a poor body image of ourselves. I rarely meet people who are comfortable, not necessarily in their own skin, but with their own skin. Our culture has such an impossible standard of beauty and acceptability that most people either know or suspect that they don't measure up. We spend inordinate amounts on regimes and products that will make us look better or younger or prettier or more handsome or...different. I am not suggesting that there is something wrong with wanting to look better or younger or prettier...it's just that we often have a poor self-image of our own bodies, so we naturally run into problems when confronted with the image of the body of Christ.

So how can we recapture this vital image of the church? First of all, the body of Christ is such a compelling image because it involves us all-individually. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. The body of Christ is not some amorphous blob-it is not some thing, some object that is apart from us-it is us. We are the body-together; and individually members of it. If you want to know what the Body of Christ looks like, just look around-not just at those sitting next to you, but at yourself as well. The body of Christ is not "out there"-it is right here. And it grows as you grow, it believes as you believe, it matures as all of us mature-together; and it expands and changes every time a new person, a new member is added.

Now think for a minute about what this means: God thinks that each one of us is so important, God thinks that you are so important, so precious, so significant, that God wants the body of Christ, that God wants the body of God's only begotten son to look like...you. God has gathered you to this body so that this body might reflect God's purpose and will, not only for us, but for the world. God is not waiting for you to become perfect or acceptable or reach some unachievable standard. God has called you as you are into this body so that you might grow in your own faith and so that this body might grow together. We sometimes have trouble loving ourselves because of poor body image-but this body image, the body of Christ, reminds us that God loves us so much that God wants God's body to look like you. And together as this body of Christ we are invited, not to sit in place, not to remain stagnant, but to grow-to grow to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

This is what Paul is reaching for when he calls the church the body of Christ. Yes, it is an image that describes the church as a whole, but more importantly, it is an image that describes God's spacious and gracious love for each one of us. Did you notice that when Paul talks about the body, he gives every one of us a mention? Listen again to the rich body image that Paul paints and especially notice how important each individual member is: Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. Do you know what phrase in that section I love best? Where it says, "God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as God chose." That means that God chose you! Each of us has been given a gift, given a role in the body, and without you the body is incomplete. But with you, with you gifts and your role, we grow and move and can share God's love with the entire world-because God has chosen you.

So what does all of this body image have to with our equipping ministry? Two things. First of all, in order to be the body of Christ, we need to know our gifts and our role within it. Are you an ear or a eye? Are you a hand that reaches out in compassion, or a foot who helps move us where we need to be? We all are called according to our gifts and an equipping emphasis intentionally and purposefully helps every member identify those gifts and discern that calling. As I have said before, this is not new-the church has been helping its members do that since the early church-Trinity has done this throughout its history. The difference in this new emphasis is one of intentionality and purpose. Because this body image is so rich and compelling, we want every member to experience the fulfillment and joy that is ours when we can put our gifts to use as a part of the body. The second role of an equipping ministry is to help put the various members of the body together in meaningful ways. Bodies are not haphazard things-well, I'll admit, there are days when my body feels pretty haphazard, but God has designed our bodies to move and work in fluid cooperation. It takes 12 muscles to smile-12! Smiling, in the body, is not a solo activity. And so it is with the body of Christ: it takes many members to share God's love with the world. To be sure, we can all share God's love at any time by ourselves. But a Red Beans and Rice Caf, a senior high youth worship service, a mission trip, MCU takes many members each contributing their gifts and working in concert. An equipping ministry recognizes that many ministries do not happen spontaneously, but need guidance and assistance to bring the various members together. Again, this is not new-our outstanding Sunday School is just one instance of where members are brought meaningfully together to bring their gifts and talents to bear. Our new equipping emphasis will build on this and strengthen it so that existing ministries can be stronger and new ones can arise and flourish.

A healthy body image-that is what Paul uses to describe the church. It is an image that calls each one of us into ministry by reminding us how much God loves and cherishes each one of us. It is an image that encourages, actually insists on growth. It is an image that enables us to work and live and grow together so that God's love and mercy might be known by all the world. Now we are the body of Christ and individually members of it!