The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for August 24, 2008

Texts: 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Title: “The Tie that Binds”

              “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love: the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”  As with so many hymns written on the subject of Christian fellowship and the church, John Fawcett’s beloved hymn, “Blest Be the Tie That Binds,” offers us a vision of fellowship and church that we bickering and contentious Christians have seldom attained.

              “Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love: the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”  I have never personally been part of a church where “kindred minds” were present in sufficient number to resemble that church triumphant in heaven over which Jesus reigns. Mind you, the people in those churches did not deliberately set out to be divisive, but you know as well as I do that egos and personal agendas have a way of fouling things up.  The church is no less preyed upon by egos and personal agendas then in any institution you can name.  Quite frankly, personal experience has taught many of us that the church is more subject to the assaults of ego and personal agendas than other institutions.

              The church in Corinth had fallen prey to egos and personal agendas. After offering greetings to the church in his first letter to that faith community, the Apostle Paul gets right down to cases.  “Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”

             The tie of “kindred minds” that should have bound that congregation together had become frayed, if it had ever existed at all.  Factions had arisen in the church each promoting a favorite son to be the congregation’s principal leader, “I belong to Apollos,” “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Cephas,” still others invoked Jesus’ name, “I belong to Christ.” Paul had his work cut out for him.

              Paul uses his letter to systematically address the points of contention that kept the Corinthians at each other’s throats.  Basically a primer in form, the letter outlines what members of that fellowship needed to do in order to re-establish themselves as a community worthy of the name Christian. To reinforce his point Paul offered the Corinthian church, and by extension all of us, a metaphor through which the Corinthians might reinforce their understanding of what Christ intended his church on earth to be.

              The metaphor emerges in the lesson I just read.  “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. The body into which those Corinthian Christians were baptized, of course, was the body of Christ.

              Other thinkers in the ancient world had used the image of a body when referring to cooperation that must maintain in a functioning society.  Paul simply picked up that image and applied it to Christ and the church. As the interdependent body parts cooperated to maintain the health and functioning of the body, the health of the church, Paul believed, was no less dependent on the cooperative efforts of those who were members of that fellowship.  Though he did not write the hymn, “Blest be the Tie that Binds,” the hymn offers a vision of the kind of community the apostle sought to establish among the members of the Corinthian church.  

              Several centuries later, pastors and church leaders continue to respond to the challenge of creating the kind of Christian communities where the “tie that binds,” truly exists, where members of those communities have captured the vision and are actually committed to serving together as the body of Christ. Several centuries later most of our churches are no closer than was the Corinthian church in living out Christ’s vision for the church, the vision Paul so effectively articulated.

                “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”  So Paul declared. “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.’” Foot, ear, eye, hand, all essential, so said Paul, but essential not merely to for sake of unity itself, rather essential for accomplishing the mission for which Christ founded it.

              Paul had a grand vision for what Christ’s church could accomplish in the world. From Paul’s perspective the Christian was to serve as Christ’s ambassador to the world. An ambassador bears a weighty responsibility on behalf of the party he or she represents. I think of Roy Perrin III, Kay and Roy Perrin’s son, who with his family flew out on Friday to begin serving in our nation’s embassy in Beijing. Roy Perrin and his colleagues in the United States embassy serve by appointment of our government to represent our nation to the people of China.  In so doing they are expected to perform their duties in accordance with our nation’s values and principles.

                Now Paul’s vision of the ambassador’s role superseded what our government expects of Roy Perrin. Paul believed that the ambassador for Christ actually “put on Christ,” in a real sense became Christ for others, his or her entire life being a window onto Christ. The Christian, in fact, was to withhold no portion of himself or herself from that service.  Yes, it was a tall order. Paul knew that. But you have to understand that Paul believed a commitment of that order was absolutely essential, for the Christian inhabited a world where the teachings and values of Christ were daily compromised.  “Do not be conformed to this world [Paul writing to the church in Rome], but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God---what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

                “To discern what is the will of God---what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  That, for Paul, friends, is the Christian calling in capsule, the animating vision of the church and its mission all rolled into one. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.  In the verses before us this morning Paul does not focus primarily on what the church is called to do, but rather on what it is called to be, the “body of Christ.”             

              Paul struggled mightily to inculcate the concept “body of Christ.” The Christians of Corinth, but also Rome, Thessalonica, and Ephesus were simply unaccustomed to thinking or acting as a body. Their loyalties were committed to special interests.  They were converted Jews whose outlooks were shaped by the beliefs and traditions of that faith community.  They were converts from various pagan cults.  They were new Christians who came to the church having no background in the traditions of the Jews, or for that matter any other tradition of belief. The fledging Christian communities were a diverse lot who brought a great variety of baggage with them into the churches of Corinth or Rome. Some of that baggage needed to be discarded outright, some of it sorted out, and some set aside for examination later.

              “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.” It was toward that vision of blessedness, it was to forge the tie that binds, that Paul committed himself.  Friends, that remains very much a work in progress for the church at large. 

              Oh yes, we like to sing about the tie that binds, we have appropriated the vocabulary, body of Christ, but how do we typically represent ourselves to the world? By and large we represent ourselves as being a welcoming, friendly community. On those occasions over the last several years when we have undertaken a process of self-assessment before mounting a new effort to attract new members or to begin new ministries, the term “friendly” invariably heads the list of this church’s assets our members choose to identify. “We are a friendly church.”

              Now I doubt that there is a single church in all of Christendom that would describe itself other than friendly, but be that as it may, can the ties of friendship, in and of themselves, be counted upon to bind the faith community together as Christ meant it to be bound? While Christ would certainly not object if we referred to each other as “friends,” I have to believe he would prefer to have us refer to each other as fellow servants or brothers and sisters of Christ. 

              Obviously the language we use points beyond itself to the disposition of our hearts and minds.  It is one thing to say this is my church friend, it is quite another to say this is my brother or sister in Christ.

               I want to make a bold assertion, one I am prepared to defend more extensively if anyone wants to see me later.  I believe that the churches across our nation are hemorrhaging members, and not doing a good job attracting new ones, for the simple reason that people in our churches relate primarily as friends, rather than brothers and sisters in Christ.  Nothing wrong with relating to each other as friends, the bond of friendship is essential in a functioning community. But I submit that friendship which does not extend to a common set of core values and vision for ministry cannot sustain a vital ministry.

              Let’s be friendly, let us make all kinds of new friends, of course. Yet friendship in its own right is rarely a tie that binds through the thick and thin, friendship too easily gives way under the weight of unmet expectations, misunderstandings and petty slights. We are called to be, quote Paul, “the body of Christ,” not the “society of friends.”

              The church, the friendly church, is hemorrhaging members. The inactive roll of most churches is five times as large as the active one.  A church like this one counts itself to be fortunate if one half our roll of active members shows up for worship on Sunday morning. Friends don’t want to risk a friendship by hurting a friend’s feelings, so we don’t confront, we don’t hold each other accountable if some church commitment goes unmet.  The friendly church won’t risk embarrassing or angering anyone, for there are many, many other friendly churches who will be happy to welcome our friends into their fellowship.

              Friendships dissolve.  Why? We were friends after all. Sorry, our friends became angry, disaffected, or disillusioned over something the pastor said or did.  Our friends disagreed with an action of the session. They didn’t approve of the Sunday school curriculum.  They were angered by a decision of the General Assembly.  They didn’t like the way the church spends its money or how the church property is being maintained. They didn’t like the music selected for worship. They didn’t approve of a particular group using the church facilities. I’m on a roll here, but I will have to stop.

              Where are all the people?  They were our friends.  Whatever happened to them? They just dropped out of sight. But what about the tie that binds? Apparently not strong enough.        

              We have had our share of dropouts here at Lakeview, particularly since the storm.  They were your friends and mine, but when their absence was noted did we do anything about?  Did we phone them?  Did we drop in and see them?  Did you ask them why they ceased coming? They were our friends and they are gone. Many of those friends were former

elders, leaders in the church for years.  

              They were friends. Perhaps if we had viewed them as something more than friends, and more as a contributing and important part of us, a true member of this entity Paul called the body of Christ---hand, nose, leg, whatever---perhaps they would still be here, or at least we would know the reason they are no longer here.

              The tie that binds has many strands. Friendship is definitely one strand, but to that strand others need to added---strands like prayer, compassion, accountability, forbearance, generosity, and, oh yes, forgiveness. Perhaps if those strands were present, and this body, the church, was a healthy, functioning, interdependent body like Christ envisioned it to be, anger, disillusionment, and frustration wouldn’t send our friends heading for the exits. Perhaps if those strands were there the people who dropped up wouldn’t be left waiting, waiting for one of us call them and to tell them they are missed.

              As your pastor I’m calling upon our leadership team, our session, to make a renewed commitment to creating an environment here where friends, become brothers and sisters in Christ, and brothers and sisters in Christ become committed, really committed, to building up the body of Christ.  

              “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love: the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.” Friends, you and I need to be about the business of adding some new strands to the tie that binds. We can do that, after all, it is, in the end, the purpose for which Christ founded the church.  AMEN.

              PRAYER

              Gracious God, through whose providence each event in our lives are directed, we thank you for yet another opportunity to gather as your church in worship. We come sharing a common baptism, motivated by a common desire to draw nearer to you.  We gather as a pilgrim community, a community with a destination you alone know, yet we journey in confidence knowing that whatever our destination might happen to be, there you shall be to welcome us. Grant us courage to place our lives and our futures in your hands, faith to strike out in new directions when that is your will.             

              “Peace I leave, my peace I give to you.”  O Christ, the peace you offer us, is not the peace as the world defines peace.  The peace you offer is not merely freedom from war and the conditions that prompt it.  The peace you offer, O Lord, is the peace that passes understanding, the peace that comes as our wills mirror you will. 

              Prone to look for peace in the wrong places, we chase mirages.  We spend our time focused on tomorrow’s opportunities, the elusive financial cushion, the perfect vacation place where we will find peace with serenity. Our quest is self-defeating, but we can’t bring ourselves to believe it.  In your mercy, O Christ, help us help ourselves. 

              Holy Spirit, who moved across the waters at creation, move in the church today. In the power of your Spirit, may the church find confidence to speak and act. May its ministers be fed by your heavenly manna, that they may in turn feed those you have placed in their care. Where your will, O God, is not being served by our policies or programs, there be to redirect the church to where you would have us to be. Where dissension and controversy provoke disputes and faultfinding there be to reconcile and restore us.

              Living God, even as we sing “Blest be the Tie that Binds,” we seek to establish that tie through ways and means that will bring us ever closer to thee. Help us, O God, to establish our ministry on a vision that is worthy of the church.  Gathering as friends and fellow travelers in faith, may we learn what it means to be the body of Christ, praying with and for each other, encouraging each other, and where necessary holding each other accountable, that in our conduct the world may catch a glimpse of your kingdom.

              Lord, as the Olympic Games conclude we give thanks that they were carried out without incident.  Yet we know, O God, that there are just grievances that have not been addressed in the host nation, and many other nations who assembled under the Olympic symbol. We pray for all who have been deprived of human rights, who enjoy no freedom of self-expression, who are arrested and languish in prisons for speaking out against oppression. Be with all human rights advocates, O God, and the agencies they represent. Grant courage and strength to those who dare to oppose corrupt regimes and institutions.

              Light of the world, shine your light on the path of those who walk through the shadow of death this day. Strengthen those who in this hour shall pass into your everlasting arms, and bring consolation to those who will mourn their passing.  We thank you for pastors, counselors, hospice personnel and all those who bring their special gifts to the bedsides of the dying. Brace those who face particular challenges today, those struggling to do or say the right thing in difficult situations.

              O Lord, we are seekers who are ever sought by you.  You know what we need before asking, yet you bid us to ask, to knock, that the door may be opened.  We stand at the door and knock.  In this moment of silence hear our personal petition.  In gratitude for your grace we now lift our prayers for those whom we know and love.  We pray for…