Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
When I was in high school, I wanted to be in the school plays, but there was an unspoken rule that if you wanted any chance to be cast in the Spring play then you also had to participate in the Fall musical. So, for that reason I showed up to audition for Bye, Bye Birdie. When the director/music teacher asked what part I sing, I told him I didn’t. He told me that was nonsense and that anyone could sing. I was cast in background roles in that musical, but I then did get cast in the Spring production. The next year I once again showed up to try out for the musical which was the Sound of Music. I was cast as the butler, which is the only role in the entire production that does not sing a single note. I am not a very musical person. In fact, I am one of the most musically challenged people I know. If I attempt to sing and actually get the right notes it was probably because of dumb luck. I never ever attempt to clap along to music, because I would fail to stay on beat with a metronome, and any kind of dancing that requires rhythm is a terrible, terrible idea. Everyone has things they are good at, and music is very much not one of mine. Even though I am terrible with musical things, I can still appreciate good musical ability. In the realm of music, one of the things that I find most incredible is marching band. You may not be aware but there are actual competitive marching bands. They are part of an organization called DCI (Drum Corps International) and they travel the world competing against one another. Just like only the best athletes make it to the professional level, only the best musicians and marchers make it on a DCI corp. To see a marching band at that high of a level is kind of incredible. Several dozen people, organized in different instrument sections, are all moving in perfect harmony with one another. They cease to be individual musicians but become one marching entity. It is impressive and amazing, and I think a good marching band can be a faith lesson for us. A marching band illustrates what a church should be like when we assemble, and it gives us a good example to better understand this morning’s scripture. This morning’s scripture from 1 Corinthians immediately follows last week’s scripture and is really part of the same thought. Last week we considered the first half of 1 Corinthians which was focused on Spiritual Gifts. One of the major points that Paul made there was that all spiritual gifts come from the Holy Spirit to do God’s work. In the church in Corinth, there was obviously some drama brewing about these spiritual gifts though. Specifically, we get the image that some people were claiming that some gifts were superior and better than the others. In last week’s scripture Paul explicitly states this not the case, but then in this morning’s scripture he doubles down on that claim with his well-known Body of Christ metaphor. The body is only complete with all the parts together and one part is not any better than a single other part. It is a well-known metaphor but putting it into practice has always been a bit tricky. If the church is the body of Christ, then it feels like sometimes the right hand literally does not know what the left hand is doing. I think it is fair to say that the body of Christ has a bit of a coordination problem, and we can struggle with all the parts working together sometimes. This morning’s scripture shows that coming together on the same page has been a growing edge for faith communities from the beginning. Unity between believers and working in perfect coordination for the common good has continually been a learning process for us. This is why I think marching band can be a good place for us to look for an example of what the church could be like. One of the things that is so impressive about marching bands is that in some instances hundreds of people are perfectly united for a common goal. When done correctly the move in perfect sync with each other. All these different people, in different instrument sections all come together to create something that is bigger than themselves. It is as if all these individuals almost move and work like one body. This is what a church should be like. As a faith community we should move together in perfect unity, all working for a common purpose. We should be united in love to serve God and spread forth God’s compassion in the world. In considering what kind of example a marching band gives us; I believe there are three things we can learn about how to better be the body of Christ First, everyone has a part to play. Marching band works because everyone does what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it. Sometimes this means marching in place while another section of instruments gets to do fun and complex choreography. However, all of the sections are essential to fulfill the bigger picture. This is why Paul wrote in his body metaphor “The eye cannot say to the hand I don’t need you! . . .On the contrary those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” In the body of Christ we all have a role to play, but sometimes we lose sight of that. Verse 18 of this morning’s scripture states, “In fact God has placed, the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” God has an idea of how we can best serve Him and how we can make the most impact in our mission of making disciples and transforming our world. However, sometimes we do not go that way because we feel that we should do something else. In seminary I met someone who was a worship leader in her church, but it took her years to claim that. Despite having a beautiful singing voice, she did not sing for years. This is because her home church she grew up in had several gifted sopranos who could kill the high notes. However, this woman was very firmly an alto, and she grew up feeling that if she could not get the high notes then she was not well suited to lead music in front of others. We can sometimes limit ourselves and hold ourselves back from fulfilling the role God has for us. Aiong the same lines, I remember reading a story once from a pastor about a man in his church who was having a lot of frustration. He wanted to serve God and fulfill a role in the church. This man was an accountant, so of course the church put him on the finance committee. That was not where he felt he should be though. Since he worked in business, he was nominated for Trustees instead. That was also not a good fit. What this man wanted to do was work with young children. He tried to volunteer in the nursery, which is where all of the young mothers served. This was a larger church with a lot of young mothers, so he was told that they did not need them. The man went to the pastor out of frustration, and the pastor intervened and had him added to the nursery rotation. It did not take long until he became a permanent fixture in the pre-school nursery. He was the absolute favorite of every child, and he loved those little kids with the love of God. It took him awhile to fulfill his role because others assumed they knew where he fit in best. We all have a part to play, and we should follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and fulfill that role. The second thing we can learn about the body of Christ from marching bands, is that it takes work. I know that the annual band camp is more like boot camp than summer camp. Years ago, I served as the youth pastor at Avon UMC, and marching band is a really big deal at Avon High School. Every year in the late summer, the band students in the church would complain that the freshmen cannot march. Of course, they tended to forget that when they were freshmen, they could not march either. Learning to march in time takes time and practice. For a marching band to work in perfect coordination takes a lot of practice and effort. Every member of the band must memorize the music as well as the choreography. Then they must execute it in sync with everyone else at the same time. This is why marching bands practice for hours and hours a week. It takes a lot of effort to perfectly move together as one. Being the church, being the body of Christ, is the same way. It takes effort, being the church is more than just showing up on Sunday morning and putting our check in the plate. To be the church we have to do the work of the church. If we want to see new disciples of Jesus Christ being made, then we must be willing to be the one who is sharing the good news. If we want to see this world transformed into a more kind and loving place, then we need to be the ones who are seeing the needs in our community and meeting those needs. We can count on God moving and the Holy Spirit empowering, but we have a role to play and work to do when it comes to making disciples and transforming the world by sharing the love of God. It also takes grace. Because as individuals, trying to work together to do the work of the church, we will not always get it right. There will be missteps, there will be balls dropped, there will be mistakes, and there will be things that just do not work like they are supposed to. When that happens in the church, we should be the model of forgiveness, the model of how to try again, and the model of how to come alongside someone and support them unconditionally. When it comes to fulfilling the role in the body of Christ that is the perfect fit for us, it is something that will take effort and practice as we learn how to do it right. The church as a whole needs to be a place that is full of support and grace while we learn how to serve God. Because if one part suffers every part suffers with it; if one part is honored every part rejoices with it. The final thing we can learn from marching band is from the motivation that drove people to be part of the band. For people who pursue marching band beyond high school, they do it for only reason. It is the for the love of the music. The love of the music and desire to be part of it is what motivates people to do things like join a DCI corp. It is their passion for playing that makes all of the hard work and training worth it. I think as Christians we should have similar feeling What should bring us here to assemble is the love of God. What should bring us here is a tug we feel in the depths of our soul because we know that we love because God first loved us. We know that God’s love for the world was fully revealed on the cross, and because of that our sins have been forgiven and we have been reconciled with God. Our motivation for being here, for being part of the body of Christ should be because we know the great love of God and we desire to fully participate in that love by sharing it with others. However, just like the band we find this is where we belong, because we are not alone. A love of music motivates people to march and a love of God should motivate us to be part of the church. A community of faith where we assemble, each doing what God has called us to do, in perfect harmony, in complete unity, to make disciples and transform the world. Paul wrote, “Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is part of it.” No matter how long you have been a Christian, no matter how long you have been a part of this church, you are part of the body of Christ. There is a role for you here. There is a way that God’s love can be shared and that God can glorified that only you can do. May you find your place in the body of Christ. If you are not sure about what that may be, then I would love to sit down with you to talk and pray about it. We are one body because as Paul wrote “we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body.” Christians assemble so that we may faithfully march to the beat of God’s drum.
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