The Body

Vestry Retreat, Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill

The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling

Meditation # 1: The Body

In my meditations today, I’d like to focus on our identities, first individually as Christian leaders, and then secondly as the Body of Christ. A  current question these days is “How do you identify yourself?” Our answers will vary with the day and the context. For instance, today, I’m speaking as a retreat leader for Church of the Redeemer, and I identify myself as a friend of Bethany House of Prayer. Tomorrow, I’ll preach and celebrate as a supply priest at St. Cyprian’s Church in Roxbury; whereas last weekend, I was Megan’s Mom, visiting her in Minnesota. This past Thursday, I was a team member for “Transforming Conflict” in the diocese of Connecticut, and next month I’ll be  “Theologian-in-Residence” at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Burlington, Vermont. I identify as a missionary and evangelist rather than as a parochial priest. Many different communities, and yet I always retain my fundamental identity, the bedrock of my faith, as a baptized Christian, and a beloved child of God.

            I’ve never much liked politics and I like it even less today. I used to be a registered Republican because that’s what my parents were, and I married into a family with the same political identity. I always voted my conscience and so my changing views once caused a temporary rift with my father-in-law. We argued one night over religion and politics, about men and women’s leadership, about issues of privilege and race, and our meal together ended abruptly with all of us quickly leaving the restaurant. It took months of letter-writing to repair and reconcile our broken relationship. And yet we still identified ourselves as members of the same family.

When my husband Paul and I moved to Massachusetts, I became a registered Independent because I did not want to be identified with any one particular party. I believe that identity politics has increasingly united us and divided us at the same time. We are creating more and more camps, and drawing lines in the sand, as we become more polarized with escalating emotions. So too have our religious identities fragmented us as well. We gather with like-minded folks, with whom we can identify. Or we no longer want to be identified with any one church or religion, and so we claim no affiliation at all, or we call ourselves “spiritual but not religious.”

In today’s world, identity is important. There are cases of mistaken identity, and stolen identities. We over-identify with some roles and under-identify with others. We have caller ID and protect our identities from others by choosing to remain anonymous in some cases. People’s identities are multi-layered and varied, and there is plenty of reason for having them. We need not nor do we want to be defined or confined by any one identity. Our priorities are different.

Proudly we claim that we are Americans, with multiple identities, a melting pot of diversity. With increasing numbers of interracial and intercultural marriages, we are not black or white, but many shades of gray and various colors. Each individual makes their own right choices for religious, moral, and spiritual strength or for political and civil engagement, for defining ourselves . Gender identity is no longer considered a binary choice, but rather a fluid and emerging identity, formed over a lifetime of experiences and knowledge. We are a rainbow people with a variety of gifts and the same Spirit.

Quite frankly, the “spiritual but not religious identity” drives me bonkers. It makes me wonder about the loss of commitment to our religious communities. I am a card-carrying Christian, baptized into the Body of Christ as an infant, and part of the Jesus movement today. I was confirmed at the age of 33 in the Episcopal Church, and served as a lay leader in many and various ministries throughout my life. I was ordained to the priesthood after two other vocations in retail clothing and banking. Having served in ecumenical and interfaith ministries, on boards and in a local government, I can identify with many people on a variety of issues. With a commitment to my Christian communities, I am both spiritual and religious, and I believe that there is a need for both of these in our life together. As I Christian, I identify with Jesus, whose Body is found in community. As a Christian, I can still serve in many ways and various places.

I identify myself with the Episcopal tradition in paticular because it is a world-wide Body, that follows the middle way, between the Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions. We are a big tent in a three ring circus! We are Christ’s Church in Chestnut Hill and throughout the world, and we discipline our lives through worship, study, and action. When making moral choices, we stand on the three-legged stool of scripture, tradition, and reason, with our experiences heavily influencing all three. As disciples of Christ, we ask, “What would Jesus do?” or “What would Jesus say?” and then we listen for the variety and diversity of our responses. The sacraments of baptism and Eucharist are central to our lives. We feed ourselves with Christ’s body and blood; we wash away our foolishness with water and the Spirit. Christian community is important to our identity.

Personally, I have served Christ in all sizes and shapes of churches in many dioceses. My ministry as a lay person included coordinating coffee hour, serving on a pastoral care team, teaching Sunday school, and chairing the outreach committee for our vestry. I also served beyond the walls of our stone Church, high on the hill of Newtown, Connecticut, where we are now identified with the Sandy Hook School shooting. During our time of living in Sandy Hook, my primary identity was as a parent, but I offered my gifts not only in our Church but at Sandy Hook School, in homeless shelters, prisons, non-profit organizations, and youth services, first identifying myself as a volunteer, and then only later as a lay minister.

I have come to see that the Church is both a business organization and a spiritual Body; and yet we often lose sight of the spiritual world because of the pressing demands on our physical lives. Our “to-do” lists are visible, and we forget to tap into the invisible ways of God who guides us. We lose sight of the spiritual in the physical structures of our religious, or business, or family, or board work. We press on in our daily lives with urgency, responding to the dings of our cell phones and the emails which demand our response. Daily news feeds our minds and our fears but not our faith and our souls.

When vestry leaders and clergy are clear about their identity and purpose as the Church, the Body of Christ, and not just as a business, or a board, or the voice of a particular party, or as a social service agency but rather as a Spiritual Body, as a visible manifestation of the love of God in Jesus Christ, it is a powerful and visible witness to others. You become known as the Body of Christ. You are blown with purposeful direction by the Spirit of God and not by the prevailing winds of our culture. You are proud to be part of the Jesus Movement, which is a particular Way to reveal God’s love to others. God is Love and Love has a Body and You are Christ’s Body.

·         We are all members of Christ’s Body. We have heads, hearts, feet, hands, and many other visible and invisible parts to our Body. What part of the Body are you today? How do you identify with Christ’s Body?

·         As parts of the Body, we are connected by blood, ligaments, skin, and systems that circulate and sustain our lives. How can we keep these parts moving, healthy, strong, and free from blockage?

·         We are all equally important members of Christ’s Body, regardless of our size and function, regardless of what we wear around our necks. When one part of our Body suffers, or when one part rejoices, we all suffer, and we all rejoice. When parts of us are missing we are not whole.

·         We assume different postures at different times: we kneel to confess and pray, we stand to speak and walk, we sit down to be quiet and listen, and then we lie down and rest.

·         We are each unique members and yet we share a common humanity and a divine Spirit that transcends and unites us all, and moves us beyond the walls that we create.

The letter to the Ephesians reminds the Church that we are joined together, and with each part working properly, we will promote spiritual growth in ourselves, in our Church, and beyond. Today, we pay attention to our self-care, balancing our actions and productivity, with listening to God’s Spirit in the silence, and to each other in conversation.

If you can lay down all of your identities for just a moment this morning, like those rocks, I’d like you to focus specifically today on your identity as a beloved child of God, as a baptized Christian, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and as a leader in Christ’s Body. Your context and community are clear and it is shared: you serve on the vestry at Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill. In the silence, listen to the Spirit’s invitation for you to go deeper, wider, and higher. What Body part are you? What gifts do you have to share? What holds you back or blocks your way? What do you need for spiritual growth?