One body...Is this our reality?

Following on from the earlier part of the chapter Paul now begins to speak about the well known understanding of the church as the 'body of Christ' (1 Cor 12.12-31). This analogy should be considered in terms of the faith group at that time before we attempt to bring it into the present. The communities that Paul was addressing would have been a mixture of what we would term professional people, tradies and the more affluent. They would likely have been meeting at one person's house. Many would have been friends of the householder and there would have been a certain amount of tension as the various groups came together. Each would have been most comfortable in the company of there fellows rather than those from other ethnic and trade backgrounds. It would also have been unlikely to been a place of quiet contemplation but rather a noisy gathering during the meal, which would have reduced somewhat as those who taught began to speak. It is therefore not surprising that jealousies and envy were rife and would tend to pull the gathering one way or another. Thus, the analogy would have been to bring a more harmonious relationship into being.

Let us look at the whole to care for the part

Today, in my opinion, this analogy is false for our churches (that is the parish church in the Anglican tradition). Why do I say this? Simply put today the average church goer will determine which 'parish' they are comfortable in and will seek that space for themselves. This means that in most circumstances the local church as we know it contains those that are compatible with the ethos. Yes, there will be differences but not the differences that were extant at the time of Paul. The differences in most parishes could be said to be minor ailments that require antibiotics rather than limb transplants and the need to understand our own place in the whole. If the person does not like the feel of the place the likelihood is that they will shop around until they find a comfortable place. It is the reality of our mobile society. Not all congregations can cater for all people and those that do often find themselves splintering into distinct groups rather than melding together as a whole. Instead of the attempt to amalgamate a conglomerate of difference the average congregation facilitates the health of a specific bodily part (hand, eye, ear, etc in Paul's analogy).

It is when we begin to take a look at the wider circumstances of the church as a whole that this analogy begins to work and should be taken a lot more seriously then we do. In only trying to apply it to the local we miss entirely the global impact of the analogy. However, we are often to focused on the minutiae that we fail to realise the bigger circumstances. Take for example a diocese, not a parish but the larger whole. In this we find often a sort of blame game emerging from both the Parish and the offices of the Diocese. In many of the places, I have been in, the major complaint from the Parish is that the Diocese does not look after the parishes or does not listen or inflicts extra burdens, etc. The Diocesan office complains that the parishes do not see their efforts, are complacent, are not fulfilling their obligations, etc. This to me sounds more like Paul's Corinthian assembly and the need for the imagery of the Body. Each Parish and each Diocesan office is part of a whole. In terms of Paul, we could suggest that the Parishes are the feet and hands, the senses, the nerves, etc. For this spread out structure both the central and extended parts need to realise that they are part and parcel of the one body. This theological thinking must change our own thinking in terms of how we operate as a whole.

Of course, we need not stop there but looking at the whole of the, for example, Anglican Communion the body analogy works at an even better level. Then when we take it further the analogy works probably the best in pointing out the failings of the faith more generally. So when we start thinking in terms of Paul's body analogy we need to think in much broader terms then the local. Once we have integrated the wholeness of the body into the broader structures we would find an easier and cohesive understanding of ourselves locally. In displaying the body in its dispersed form as we tend to do, we actually do a disservice to God and fail to portray the love of Christ at the local level. By seeing the whole we better understand the part and are better able to ameliorate the needs of Christ's body and reach out to those who find themselves alienated and cut off from God. Christ proclaims the release of all in the jubilee an all encompassing thought that makes the body free (Lk 4.14-21).