Power Source

 Have you ever had the experience that I have had

            of vacuuming the rug 

            moving around the furniture

            getting up all the dog hair

when suddenly the vacuum cleaner quits and there you are, 

                        standing in silence with a limp cord dangling behind you.

And you realize that you had reached the limits of that cord

            and had pulled it out of the wall socket.

 

Being connected to the power source is rather essential.

            But stretching the limits of that connection 

                        will work us loose from the Source.

You have stay connected, be a part of the power system,

            whether you are vacuuming or trying to live out your faith.

 

In this never-ending pandemic and under the current circumstances

            it may seem that the cord connecting us to the power source

                        is either close to pulling loose or has become disconnected.

 

We are in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

            This isn’t observed as much now as it has been in past decades.

            It’s the week between January 18, the Confession of St. Peter

                        and January 25, the Conversion of St. Paul.

Its origins are with the Franciscans

            and its purpose is aimed at bridging the differences between denominations,

            celebrating what we have in common            

            and appreciating the various perspectives in our shared faith in Jesus.

 

From the I Corinthians reading for today

which continues where we left off last week, we hear these words:

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

For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body

--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—

and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 

 

Each of the members of the body is needed.

The diversity among the members is needed.

A body cannot be a true body if it were all one big eye or ear or nose.

 

The image of the Body of Christ – millions of organs and body parts

            many members, differing gifts and ministries, all are needed

Lived out especially in small congregations where we REALLY know

            that we need each other, each and everyone of us.

 

All are needed, 

and we are specifically told 

that we cannot disregard anyone in the Community of the Body of Christ.

The weaker, in fact, are indispensable.

And what is considered to be an inferior part at one time,

            may be most important in our attention at another time,

if that body part isn’t functioning properly.

To give a perfectly gross example, have you ever been constipated?

 

Note that the epistle reading says:

“God has so arranged the body, 

            giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 

            that there may be no dissension within the body, 

            but the members may have the same care for one another.”

 

The life of faith for us individually and as congregations

            is too often fragmented, half-hearted and bland.

 

This seems to be a clear indication 

            that what St. Paul was describing in that 12^th chapter of 1 Corinthians

            is not just a theoretical analogy 

for modeling how relationships within the institutional church should be,

            but it is a very apt insight into an organic reality,

                                    the organic reality of Christ’s Body as creation.

 

So in the Body of Christ, the faith community, 

            all are needed, important, valued and indispensable.

And when one of us suffers,

            that impacts us all and we all suffer.

When one of us is honored,

            that reflects honor upon us all, a joy for all to share.

 

The Meyers-Briggs Personality Inventory is a good example on the practical level

            of the diversity of human personalities and ways of perception.

This extensive research, and the inventory tool it provides, have shown us 

            that any group working together has the greatest satisfaction 

with the outcome of their work 

if the group is diverse in personality types.

If all are the same Meyers-Briggs type, 

then important aspects of their common task are overlooked 

and the resulting work is likely to have weak points.

Such groups working together may find it easy to get their task completed 

            but  often get blind-sided when they present it to others, 

taken by surprise by what they had missed.

Homogeneity weakens a group.            We all need one another.

 

Roland Allen, an Anglican priest who lived from 1868 to 1947, 

            was a missionary in China and Africa.

One of his primary statements gained from his long experience is this:

“Within any gathered community of faith there are members present who,             with the gift and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, 

can provide the needed ministries for the life and work of that community.”

In other words, with the Holy Spirit at work in us, we have all we ned.

 

The question then is how to live in unity in the Body of Christ – 

            it’s not something we seem to be able to do very well.

 

Have you noticed that at the beginning of this pandemic 

            we were more willing to observe a stay at home order and to wear a mask.

The urge to help in times of disaster indicates 

            this basic, natural and fundamental connection among humans as one body.

It is at times like this that we KNOW in our bones

            that we’re all in this together.

 

Now this realization may not last very long

            before once again people become competitive, 

            or start pointing fingers at each other 

                        blaming, accusing, judging, and all the many ways

                                    in which we divide up the Body of Christ

                        or rend asunder our organic unity in the realm of God’s creation.

 

But one thing that I would hope that people would notice

            in all that we have been through in the last two years,

one thing to draw our attention to is our own extremely fragile condition.

 

And so the Body of Christ, the community of all those for whom Christ died,

            is an organic whole.

 

So then the  question - how to live in unity in the Body of Christ – 

consider that we could just trust the Spirit for how that gets worked out in us.

            If we could just stay connected to Jesus 

            and trust that he will lead us into all truth on the matter,

                        he being the Truth himself.

 

Jesus is the Power Source. 

            

In the Gospel for today Jesus, “filled with the power of the Spirit,”

            comes fresh from his desert retreat after his baptism

            and comes to Galilee, to Nazareth,

                        where he goes to the synagogue  and reads from Isaiah 61.

He proclaims the Year of Jubilee 

            proclaiming liberty

                        the time to have family lands, forfeited due to debt, returned

                        the time to free all slaves, 

those who have sold themselves into slavery 

in order to meet debt obligations,

                        the time of forgiving debts.

Jesus,

his very presence 

as well as his words, and deeds that match his words, 

            brings good news that the listening heart responds to with a leap of joy.

He brings good news to those who recognize their need and poverty of spirit.

 

His very presence releases the captives, 

            those bound in all sorts of ways,

            captive in relationships, 

            captive within their own ways of being bound up inside,

finding liberation.

He brings recovery of sight to the blind,

            to all whose vision and perspective is clouded 

                        and obscured by all the misconceptions, ignorance, 

            and false assumptions,

clinging desperately to illusions.

Jesus sets free the oppressed,

            all the ways in which we perceive ourselves as victims,

            no longer caught in the victim roll,

            but now released for action

in the year of the Lord’s favor,

                        the time of grace that God would have us enjoy.

 

Jesus, the Light of the world, 

            the Word in the beginning with God,

            the Word who is God, creating by a Word,

the Source of all life,

the Power Source for our life together in his Body.

 

Check your connection.  Stay plugged in.