Being the Body of Christ

Over the summer, the dismissal at the end of worship will be:
“Go in peace. You are the body of Christ.”

While this sounds like a simple declaration, like “this is a chair” or “my name is Tania,” within that phrase – you are the body of Christ – is a statement about our identity, given in baptism, which in and of itself has a great deal of meaning.

Our identity as members of Christ’s body is central to who we are. 

But it’s also central to what we DO and how we live in the world.

There is an implied action in the dismissal at the end of worship. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Go in peace and remember the poor. Go in peace to share the Good News. Go in peace to love, serve, share, and be in Jesus’ name. 

Go in peace. You are the body of Christ, raised up for the life of the world. 

But what does it mean to be the body of Christ, particularly within the context of the ministry of caring for one another in community? Caring for each other is more than something that pastors do. It is part of all of our baptismal identity and calling to care for each other, to love each other, to be the presence of Christ with and for each other, offering comfort, compassion, connection.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12)

As a community, as the body of Christ, we belong to each other just as we belong to Christ Jesus. In the context of care within Christian community, consider verses 26 and 27 from that same passage:

“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

And like with the confirmation students’ collaborative art piece, which includes verse 27, there is such a beautiful diversity of gifts and variety of callings of God’s beloved people.

• What does it mean to you to be part of the body of Christ?

• What are the gifts you have received from others and those that you share?

Consider the ways in which you offer comfort and show compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and grace. When you care for another, in times of joy and challenge, Jesus meets you there. You are – and are being – the body of Christ.

Thanks be to God! Amen.