Monthly Archives: April 2025

All About the Clothes…

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As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

I Cor. 12:20-24a, NRSV

Paul continues his faith community/body metaphor in interesting specifics. We clothe the parts of bodies we find less respectable – a truth and the reason we wear pants. But I wonder if Paul had a double meaning in here.

Are the members of the community who are well clothed, who are considered important and widely respected – are they the weaker members? Are the well known and well heeled (literally) in need of this attention more than others who don’t get it? Are the unnoticed and under-appreciated who see to the wellbeing of the community the stronger ones?

It’s a cheeky take on Paul’s words, but is it accurate? What do you think?

What would happen if…

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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. I Corinthians 12:17-20, NRSV

What would happen if…

…everyone assumed that every single person in a community was vital to its health and ministry?

…no one wanted gifts they did not receive – and everyone valued the gifts they did?

…we trusted that the community had everything it needed to serve God and neighbor in love?

Would we finally know beyond a doubt how precious and holy each and every one of us is?

In Memoriam: Pope Francis

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Compassion. Kindness. Blessing. Simplicity. Hard Work. There are so many adjectives to describe the only man who chose Francis as his papal name.

I never met the man, but his dedication to prayer conversation, and advocacy for those in greatest need defined his time as the head of the Roman Catholic Church – it also made him an inspiration and beloved brother in Christ to Christians well beyond the boundaries of his tradition.

Like the Dalai Lama, Francis shouldered the title: His Holiness. Like the Dalai Lama, his way of being in the world made those two words more than titular: they were an apt description of the man.

Life From Death

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Years ago, a woman I knew got drunk at a bar, got behind the wheel, and wrapped her car around a tree. Had she not been pinned so tightly against the steering wheel, she’d have died from blood loss long before help arrived.

She needed rehab for months afterward, and there were consequences for driving drunk. But I’ve often thought that the most difficult part of her recovery must also have been the most miraculous: that she survived an accident that should have claimed her life. What does it mean to be given life rather than death?

Isn’t that the big question we must all ask ourselves? What does it mean to be given this life? How will we honor this most precious gift?

If we die with Christ, we are resurrected with Christ. How will we honor this most precious truth?

Descent

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Descent Into Hell

What happens to us when we are swallowed by the darkness, with no escape because it is an inner state more than an outer circumstance? What do we do when nothing we do will change a damn thing? We wait, in hope or despair.

Holy Saturday is this waiting, but it isn’t an idle waiting. Something is happening – we just don’t know it yet.

The creeds speak of Jesus descending into hell – the place of waiting for those who died before he walked the earth, incarnate human. He descended, not to condemn, but to free.

If we trust that death itself cannot separate us from God-With-Us, we just may find ourselves not in a dreadful darkness, but in the hope-filled shadow where resurrection comes.

[About this Icon: The Descent Into Hell is a Russian icon from the school of Novgorod. It was written in the later fifteenth century. This picture is from Maria Giovanna Muzj’s Transfiguration: Introduction to the Contemplation of Icons; Boston, MA: St. Paul’s Books & Media, 1991, p. 139]

Darkness Overcomes?

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Prepare the Way

The parade has long since passed by, the passover dinner just a memory. The betraying kiss and the cowardly abandonment are released in an extraordinary forgiveness. All that’s left is to endure the pain until death comes. Giving back this life so others might also live is the last act. Into the darkness that must overcome he goes.

Holy Week Starts With A Parade

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Mark 11:9b

Public figures become popular, and some become famous. People flock to see them, to be in the presence of someone who seems to have the power to make everything better in some way. Such charisma can be used to change the world in amazing ways, correcting injustices (Gandhi) or showing a way to greater holiness (Mother Teresa).

But what happens when a leader doesn’t fulfill all the projected hopes and dreams of the people who follow them? Or worse, if the hopes and dreams of discounted and disparaged others are fulfilled? Parade goers can turn into an angry mob in a heartbeat.

When a leader pushes us to dream bigger, holier dreams at the expense of our smaller ones, we have a choice to make: do we expand our horizons and our aspirations or do we attack the one who pointed out their limitations?

We know what happened to Jesus. We know prophets are often killed for their efforts. In light of that, it’s not such a bad idea to ask ourselves this question:

What would we do to the ones who come to us in the name of the Lord?

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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. I Cor12:14-16, NRSV

Paul isn’t speaking to the ones who value their gifts over the gifts of others here; he’s talking to the ones who think so little of their own gifts that they don’t feel they are part of the group, much less necessary members.

On my more judgmental days, it seems that the faith community is made up almost entirely of those who devalue others and those who devalue themselves. The whole community suffers because the many wonderful, holy gifts of the Spirit are hidden away for fear they aren’t acceptable. On my more clear-sighted days, it’s a different story. All it really takes is a nudge, a prayer, and a sense of humor to get someone to offer their gifts. Once that happens, others jump in.

It’s a lot like a party with a buffet: no one wants to be the first, but everyone gets in line as soon as someone is brave enough to grab a plate.

Bodily Functions

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Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. ICor12:14, NRSV

Paul begins his comparison of the many parts of the body with the many different people who belong to the community of faith in this verse. It’s a simple enough statement, and an obvious truth. A body cannot function without many different parts, and each has an important task to keep the whole thing healthy and working.

I’d be happy if this verse were painted over the sanctuary doors, hung on the refrigerator in the church kitchen, or posted in the parking lot. I might be less inclined to discount others due to my inability to see and appreciate the vital work they do.

Drink Up

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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. I Cor. 12:12-13, NRSV

When our preference for or expression of our faith leads us to devalue the preference or expression of another individual’s or group’s gifts, it becomes a problem. When we refuse to welcome those who are different, when we restrict our compassion and service to those who are like us, it becomes a problem. When we feel ourselves getting to that point, it’s time to take a step back, take a broader perspective, and look for the Spirit’s presence in the gifts we are so eager to disparage and throw away.

God the Spirit. Self. Neighbor. We aren’t who we are meant to be unless all three are together.