For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should 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 should 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. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 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 parts, yet one body. | 1 Corinthians 12:14–20
My inbox has been flooded this week with responses to the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests and riots. Not only from friends and church members, but also from every company I have ever done business with. While it is interesting to know what the company who printed vinyl stickers for me feels about social justice, it is not necessary (for me personally, maybe this is important to you).
This flood of messages was the symptom of something many are feeling: the need to say the right thing; to have the right words. Along with a need to say something, there is a minefield in knowing what to say and do. This is fueled by the fact that many attempts to respond have been shot down for not being worded perfectly or for not being the right tone or for simply not considering all sides. In a politically polarized moment, every comment is scrutinized. I am not here to tell you how to respond or what to say, but to look at this all from a slightly different perspective.
In a sermon I preached during the Ferguson protests of 2014, I said this:
If the church is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will mean that there are Christians standing on both sides of the protests. There will be Christians in the police force who understand the role of law because human beings are sinful and there will be Christians marching for justice because they know that this sin also infects those charged with keeping the peace. In order to bring the light of the gospel into ALL parts of the earth means that justice must flow in both directions.
My point is not to minimize anyone’s cause, but to point out that the Kingdom of God is unified, but not unilateral. As we exist in this sinful world, the work of applying the gospel will not always bring us to the same conclusions; the real issue is what we do with this diversity.
One way of thinking about what it means to be a Christian is as measuring ourselves against a standard. Similar to Plato’s concept of forms, this imagines human beings as all an imperfect reflection of a perfect ideal. As the Imago Dei, the image of God, we are made as a reflection of God. In the example of Jesus and the call to follow Paul as he follows Christ, we see the idea of acting toward a single, specific end. But if you hold this as primary, all of your energy will be in defining this single end and using it to measure others. You will set up an ideal and then judge others by where they stand in relation to you on the scale (this is done by people of all faiths and convictions).
As Christians, the perfection of Christ is something that we are called to conform to, but it is also meant to humble us. It is not a scale to use to look down on others, but a standard that declares us all unworthy. It unites us all as sinner who fall short of the glory of God. It binds us together in our need for a Savior.
The Bible gives us a better way to view the diversity of others in the idea of a body. This is specific to the church, but I think its implications play out into society as a whole. This views others as various parts that rely on one another to function properly.
This doesn’t mean that we simply let everyone do and be as they please. Sin is still sin and must be stood against. Racism is evil, abusive of power is misusing authority given by God, and destroying property that is not yours is breaking the eighth commandment. Beyond the things Christians must agree on is an ocean of space for diverse perspectives. Rather than using this time to defend your position and claim that yours is the perspective all Christians (and potentially all people) must take, this is a time to better understand the roles of the other parts of the body.
The better we understand the roles ALL of the other parts play, the better we can both affirm and defend the positive contributions diversity (of ideas, not just skin color) offers to the church (and to society). We are not a monolith, we are a melting pot; the beauty of the gospel is best seen, not in how we treat those who are just like us, but how we treat those who think and act differently.