Photo by Pedro Lima on Unsplash
Karen Hollis | May 5, 2024
Easter 6 – Strat Planning Wrap Up
As we place our dots on the things we think should be priorities, we will see our neighbours placing dots on other things. That’s because of this big, dynamic banquet table around which we all sit. We live our faith in lots of different ways. We are one body with many parts, following the movement of the Spirit in our midst. We’re going to hear a bit more about that in our scripture reading this morning. I invite Merrilee to come forward and read.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”
In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care.
So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
Who of us hasn’t had this experience of one part of the body or another needing to be cared for? We have old injuries, illness that manifests in one place or another, aches that come and go. We might go in for a treatment on a hip and the practitioner works elsewhere and we think, gosh that’s curious. Then they remind us that the parts of our bodies are interconnected. Unless we studied anatomy - which I know some of you did - we need to be reminded.
Sometimes loosening one part of the body allows for more functioning in another part. Sometimes we need to strengthen one area so that it can support this other area. God knows, bodies change, and we are in a continual process of noticing, giving attention, maintenance, healing, and living. All parts of the body are important to the whole.
Paul quite brilliantly lifts up the body as a metaphor for life in community. In our time and place, we are the Body of Christ, one body with many parts. Many ways of living our faith; many lenses through which we see community; many hopes for our present and our future. We dialogue, we listen, we act, we reflect, we plan – life in community is dynamic – and at the center is our heartbeat, our worship practice, strong and steady, giving life, providing a foundation, holding a container of hope and purpose to nourish the body. Today we lean on our worship practice to help us express our truth about this body – Comox United Church. We have a long list of things we’d like to do . . . things we think are important. We want to figure out how to be an aging congregation who is still vital, who can both care for one another and serve our community. So, which parts of the body need tending first – do we need to see the chiropractor or buy some walking sticks to give us that extra bit of stability so we can walk forward?
As we look at our objectives, that’s one question for us to think about: what of the proposed objectives needs to happen first to provide stability to the whole?
But that’s not the only question. Another important question is about how much energy we have. I like the spoons metaphor. Every morning, every day, we wake up with a certain number of spoons. And every activity costs a spoon. When we are young and healthy, we have seemingly an unlimited number of spoons. We can go and go and never run out. Sometimes we go through seasons where we notice we wake up with fewer spoons . . . maybe we burn out at work, kids exhaust us, we have injuries. As we get older, we notice our baseline changes – every day for the last year I wake up with at most this many spoons. That never used to happen - now I have to plan my day more carefully so I make sure I have energy for the things I need and want to do . . . and I’ve had to let some things go.
I invite us to think about the Body of Christ here at Comox United in a similar way – how many spoons does this collective body have each week? How many spoons do we honestly have to spend? What are the activities and ministries on which we are called to spend our spoons? Where is that right balance point right now of being filled up and offering ourselves in service?
These are the two questions I invite us to consider as we prepare to spend our dots over in the hall:
What absolutely needs our attention for us to be a vital body?
What activities and ministries are priorities for us to spend our precious spoons?
When Gloria begins playing in a moment, we’re going to begin our transition into the dot exercise. Here are your instructions. When you enter the hall through either this side door or through the back doors and down the ramp, you’ll find sets of 8 dots on tables just inside the doors (they’re actually rectangles). Each area of focus with its corresponding objectives has its own wall. 4 areas of focus – 4 walls. You have 2 dots per wall. Put your dots next to the objectives you think are most important. Think about what really needs to be done and where do we most want to put our energy? Those who are less mobile are invited to meet with Andrew in the space next to the sound booth. He will collect your input and place dots for you in the hall. Those online will see instructions on your screen.
I’m going to lead us in prayer and then I will invite Gloria to play and those with rainbow boas to lead the way into the sanctuary.
(breath) let’s use our breath to collect ourselves in this moment and gather ourselves in prayer. Open us, O God, to your movement within and between us. Help us to name and express our truth, that our collective truth may illuminate the path to answering your call for us in this time and place. Help us to trust you, trust the process, and trust one another, that collectively we have the wisdom we need at this time. In Christ Jesus we pray, Amen.