Of course we want the Church, all Christians to be the Body of Christ. Of course we want to be united in how we live and move and have our being. Of course we want to be united in how we live out our calling to be the Body of Christ in the world of 2016 but it seems almost impossible for us to do this. We wish it were not so but we simply do not seem to be able to make it come to fruition. We pray for it and hope it will happen but we cannot seem to get there for a whole variety of reasons. There are currently about 30,000 Christian denominations in the world. They are not all completely different but clearly they are not all on the same page either. But that simple fact alone suggests something far different than what St. Paul and Jesus himself described.
Just recently the Primates of the Anglican Communion gathered for a meeting in London. They discussed the current strain on relations because of differing theological perspectives on sexuality, homosexual relationships, governance issues, the role of bishops taking authority of parishes outside their diocese, the authority of Scripture, and a whole host of other things. The press focussed mostly on the issue of the marriage of gay couples but really there were many other issues as well. The meeting was an attempt to bring people together to try and create a way forward that did not include more divisions within the Anglican Church.
Our Primate, Fred Hiltz wrote about this meeting: “there are times when our capacity to remain in unity is deeply challenging given the very diverse political, cultural, social and missional contexts in which we live. While being ordered for communion, we recognize that in the face of deep difference of theological conviction over certain matters of faith and doctrine the bonds of affection between us can be strained, sometimes sadly so, to the point of people speaking of a state of impaired communion.”
It is incredibly sad that this is the state of the Church in 2016. It was hard to even organize this meeting of Primates as a number said they might not come or would simply walk out. One even did. Essentially it seems that unless everyone else agrees with how I view God’s calling to us as a Church then I will walk away from the table. Unless everyone else can be on the same page as me then I want no part of it. But the Church cannot and never has worked this way.
The earliest church had a great amount of division and contention. They did not all see eye to eye. This is precisely why the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Church in Corinth. They were a scattered group and he was doing what the Archbishop of Canterbury was doing. Paul wrote: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts.”
These are the words the Church of today needs to hear but we seem to have shut our ears. We need a whole variety to make up the Church. We need to recognise that the Holy Spirit moves in a vast number of ways. We need to see that God’s grace is bigger than we allow. We need to see that indeed God calls a whole variety of people in a whole variety of ways to be part of the Body of Christ. We do not have to agree on all things; only that we are part of the Body that is Christ. We need the richness of diversity. We are poor without it and when we lose sight of this. When the Episcopal Church was asked to take a back seat in the life of the Anglican Communion for the next three years it was the wrong move. The issue of gay marriage is not beyond the body of Christ and neither is a very conservative faith. We need both in the Body of Christ and our Communion. We need to see the Holy Spirit moving amongst all of us so that the hungry are fed, the thirsty given water, the refugee is housed, the sick are cared for. That the love of God is heard not just in words but in actions that reveal the greater gifts.
At the end of the Primates’ meeting, according to Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Jean Vanier preached a sermon that invited each of the Bishops to examine how they live out being Jesus in the world, being the Body of Christ. He said that Jean Vanier “then knelt down and washed Archbishop Justin’s feet. Justin prayed for him and then knelt to wash the feet of the Primate sitting next to him. So around the circle this quiet act of humble service was replicated. All one could hear was the gentle splash of water being poured over feet and the voice of prayer. In the end each of us had washed and been washed, prayed and been prayed for in the deep love of Jesus.”
Strive for the greater gifts said St. Paul and I think he meant it.