“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.”
– 1 Corinthians 12:14-20
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As our nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day, it is important that we remember that while we
Americans rightly celebrate the hard-fought-for freedoms from tyranny and oppression that we enjoy after
our revolutionary war, with Britain, and the many individual rights and liberties that our Constitution
guarantees for us as citizens, those of us who are Christian must acknowledge that we are to consider
ourselves as first and foremost inter –dependent rather than independent.
Although Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is meant specifically for a Christian fellowship, I think that our
over-arching scriptural witness speaks to God’s desire that all of humanity would one day think of ourselves
as this one inter-connected body that Paul describes. More than merely recognizing the distinct gifts and
abilities of the individuals in any community, this interdependence demands that we acknowledge that we
can’t really be who we were created to be unless we work together for the mutual good of the whole, rather
than in competition with one another for any individual enjoyment or betterment. We were created to be
interdependent, rather than autonomous individuals.
There is much in our culture that encourages us to think of ourselves as individuals. We Americans have a
strong streak of “rugged individualism” in us, and we celebrate any number of success stories where an
individual rises up and above the masses by virtue of their individual gifts and efforts. Fortunately, we also
have a strong tradition of recognizing and celebrating success stories that highlight the work of people
working collectively for the benefit of larger groups of people in a self-sacrificial way that seeks the
betterment of the larger body rather than merely an individual reward for talents and efforts.
I believe that God is pleased when we see individual rewards for our efforts, and for putting our God-given
talents and skills to work. But, with Christ as our primary model, we must remember that any individual
successes that we might achieve must ultimately be channeled back in some way for the betterment of
that larger body that we are all part of. When any of us fail to contribute a fair share of our God-given time,
talents, and treasure back into that inter-connected body, we weaken and impoverish that body, and we
limit what God could do in and through a healthy and well-equipped united and group-focused world
community.
As we continue to see play out in our headlines, a united and interdependent world seems a long way off.
We have enough trouble working together as a collective in our own cities, states, and nation, let alone as
a community of nations; but those difficulties and struggles must never diminish our commitment to
coming back time-after-time to the hard work of building consensus and sharing resources as a collective
whole, rather than thinking of ourselves as autonomous individuals, groups, sects, or movements. We
must always keep before us the goal of lifting our sisters and brothers with us as we are able to rise
ourselves, knowing that a healthy eye suffers when a foot is weakened or sickened, and no matter how
strong an arm might be, it will never be able to function fully if a back or a shoulder is not also strong and
healthy.
As President Jimmy Carter put it, “My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I
can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.” Even as we celebrate Independence Day and all our precious personal liberties, may we remember that we have been blessed so that we
might be a blessing to others.
Peace,
Pastor Layne