Ephesians 2.11-22, Mark 6.30-34, 53-56
(Bratton Clovelly), Bridestowe, Lydford, Trinity 7, 22/7/2012
Queen Camel, Corton Denham, Sutton Montis, Trinity 7, 19/7/2015
I begin this sermon with an advisory notice, in the style of a TV continuity announcer. This sermon contains rather a lot of references to flesh.
Jesus fleshed it out - his compassion for all people; as he placed himself before great crowds by Galilee, received, taught and healed them.
Paul fleshed it out - his belief in a God for all people; as he journeyed through the towns and villages of the Mediterranean preaching a gospel of inclusion to the Gentiles.
And we flesh it out - our faith; by what we do with our bodies - where we place ourselves, who we spend our time with, what we do and say to those people.
What we do expresses who we are; it demonstrates what we really believe. Christianity is a physical religion - we embody God, we flesh out our faith, just as Jesus did. On reading scripture we perceive the character of God by what we see Jesus doing; on observing our behaviour people perceive the character of God by what they see Christians doing.
To other people, God isn’t who we say he is - God is who we show he is. Think about it. The old Jesus People anthem ‘We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord’ doesn’t say, ‘And they’ll know we are Christians by our creeds, by our creeds’. It says, ‘And they’ll know we are Christians by our love’. And love is something which we embody.
What a responsibility - bearing the beauty of God in our bodies.
What a tiring task - carrying God’s compassion to others in our mortal frame.
What a wonderful privilege - bringing God’s embrace to others through our flesh and bones.
That’s not to say that we should, at every moment, be actively ‘doing things for God’. That doesn’t sound liberating, even thinking about it feels draining. People talk about compassion fatigue - stresses brought on by doing too much good. Mark’s gospel shows us what happened to Jesus and the disciples when his compassionate activities got too much. They stopped eating, got exhausted, and desperately sought escape.
If you’ve got God in your body then you should look after your body. I’ve got a t-shirt which these days clings rather unattractively around my middle-aged paunch, on which is printed a slogan saying, ‘My other body is a temple’. And I know that I really ought to care more about looking after the body I’ve got.
So when Jesus got tired he sought a place for escape and reflection - a deserted place - where he and his disciples could recuperate, refresh, and in conversation and discussion, reflect on how things were going - in their mission to embody God to the Galilean crowds. This was the place where they could reconsider their mission, contemplate the ways in which they were showing God to others. This was the place where they could flesh out what forms their mission might take from there.
I know that many of us come here week by week with bodies aching a little from living: whether living consciously for God, or more likely and quite acceptably, from simply living. And here we seek a place for escape and recuperation - a place where we can reflect, refresh, and in conversation with each other share how things are going in our lives. We value this time of retreat and renewal, we value each other’s encouragement.
Occasionally we also talk together about our faith, about how we’re doing with that task of embodying God in our community. Those sorts of conversations we have less often, but when we do have them we are encouraged. Perhaps we should talk this way to each other more.
It’d be fascinating, fleshing out together our Christian witness, considering the ways in which we show the Good News of Jesus to others and thinking of new ways we might enable those who have never heard the good news to do so.
It’d be instructive to discuss how we teach and nurture new believers, how we could better enable each other, as Christians, to grow in our faith.
It’d be valuable to ask each other how we, the church as a body, serve the community in the same compassionate way which Jesus showed. To flesh out how we stand up for what is right and stand against what is wrong in our community, to consider how we respond to God’s call to be stewards over his creation, at a time in the earth's history where the cries and groans of creation have never been louder, where the aches and pains of creation have never been greater, because of what humanity has done.
Our bodies and what we do with them are often the source of debate and dissent between believers. As Paul strove to help the early Church consider whether the Body of Christ could bear those who were uncircumcised, so today we face equally-divisive debates over whether believers who are homosexual can receive the same blessings from the Church as those who are heterosexual, and whether those who are women in the Church should be in the position to give blessings - as priests, as bishops.
Paul helped the early believers to flesh out these issues in a way which began with a desire to achieve unity and blessings for all. Regarding the divisive issues of our day, our prayer must be that we find ways to discuss them which will hold us together and build us up.
I encourage you to talk about these things together - about how we flesh out our faith; about how what we do demonstrates what we really believe; about what our behaviour tells others about the character of God.
You know, you embody God’s compassion when you take a cooked meal to a housebound neighbour, when you sit by the bedside of someone struggling in hospital.
You know, you embody God’s witness when you knock on the door of a village newcomer to welcome them, when you spend time with a teenager talking about what your faith means to you, asking them how they see God.
You know, you embody the all-embracing generosity of Jesus when you invite to your home for a meal people from different parts of your community who don’t normally mix, encouraging friendship between people who in some things may disagree.
It’s a responsibility, a tiring task, a wonderful privilege - embodying God to others. If you shrink from it at times then fear not - even Jesus needed to retreat and recuperate. If you are daunted by the prospect, take heart - this is something we don’t do alone, we do through the help and encouragement of each other.
We oughtn’t be alone in this. If you’d rather make a visit with someone else, if you’re more confident making new acquaintances when there’s other people with us, if you’d rather work with others to organise a meal, if you’d consider joining a campaign or protest if people invited you along, then you’re embodying the body of Christ, you are fleshing out fellowship together.
People notice Christians, embodying God. Some may call you a busybody; you may sometimes feel like a dogsbody; at times you might be treated like a nobody.
But to our compassionate Jesus you are somebody; and as Paul says, together, we are God’s body.
Notes
[1] This sermon is a subtle way of introducing the Five Marks of Mission, a useful tool for Mission Action Planning which we actively utilised in the Northmoor Team churches.
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