Monday 13 September 2010
- Bible Book:
- 1 Corinthians
"Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you; and to some extent I believe it." (v.17-18)
Background
Paul had a problem with the church in Corinth. It was, afterall, a church in which everyone was a new Christian. Everyone had apast in the cosmopolitan culture of Corinth, in which gods wereten-a-penny, and social status determined much of peoples'lives.
Sadly, the little Christian community found it really hard to putall this behind them. They had to get their heads round the ideathat God's love put an end to those social distinctions,particularly in their gathering to celebrate the Lord's Supper. Alittle group who, in their previous life, had been doing the roundsof posh dinner parties at one another's homes saw no reason tochange when they gathered for a meeting of the church in theirhomes... They and their friends could eat in the dining-room incomfort, while lesser mortals could take their token bread and winein the kitchen, or perhaps in the atrium - the centralcourtyard.
Pauls reminds them sharply of the true character of the Christianfellowship, in which such things have no place. He points to theloaf which all share in common, and also to the gathering of equalsin which everyone, regardless of social status, is 'inChrist'.
When in Communion services today we offer our sisters and brothersthe body of the Lord, we see hands outstretched to receive. Hereare the hands of a nurse, soft and gentle. Here are the hands of agardener, cracked and calloused. Here are the hands of a musicianand here the hands of an oarsman - all very different, but all onein Christ. Each one makes her or his unique contribution to thelife of us all. How do we see them? With our own eyes or with theLord's eyes?
Christ has no body but yours,
no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
To Ponder
Are all truly equal in Christ? How can we seewith Christ's eyes?