Sermon: Embodied Gifts

By Joanna Lawrence Shenk

Romans 12:1-8 (adapted)

Sisters and brothers—siblings—I ask you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and whole, to God. This is an act of worship. Don’t conform yourselves to this social reality, but be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you can understand what leads to life—that which is good, satisfying, and whole. 

In light of God’s grace, I ask you to be humble. Just as each of us has one body with many parts and these parts don’t have the same function—so all of us form one body. And as members of that one body, we belong to each other. 

We have gifts that differ, according to what has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, speak the truth. If it is ministry, serve others without taking over. If you are a teacher, teach with clarity. If you are good at preaching, preach boldly. If you accompany those in distress, do so generously. If you are a leader, empower others. If you are an encourager, offer kind words to those who need it. 

We need each other. We need each other in the particularity of our bodies and our gifts. We need each other because there is no way we can make it on our own. We need each other to demonstrate that interdependence is possible in the midst of a social reality that chops us into individual selves. We need each other to be reminded that the kindom of God is among us and under our very feet. 

I guess that is my summary of what Romans 12:1-8 is trying to say. And I feel the aliveness of all of those statements, acted out in big and small ways by this community. My eyes welled up with tears as I wrote those statements. Maybe I’m a little more emotional about it than usual due to my lack of sleep over this weekend. Whether it was staying up late preparing the MVS house or finding folks to help lead the service when others got sick or responding to pastoral care needs, I knew we would figure things out together. It wasn’t all on me or on any individual person. 

Well writing the sermon was kinda all on me, but even then, I was surrounded by a great cloud of writers and scholars. I chose to preach on Romans in part because of the book study we did in discipleship group a few years ago on “Romans Disarmed” by Sylvia Keesmaat and Brian Walsh. 

In that book they reflect on how Paul is trying to articulate how the Jesus following community is set up differently than the Roman imperial status quo. The body politic of that empire was built on hierarchies, determining who had status and voice and who did not. Paul was saying, “it’s not like that in our community. We are all offering ourselves to create a different social reality.” 

For some I imagine being a living sacrifice – committing themselves to that community – meant giving up status, while for others it was an experience of finally receiving the respect they deserved. I think it’s interesting that they were called to this gift of embodiment in community and then their minds could be transformed. They had to live into it before they could think themselves into it. 

And what is it that powers this transformed community? It is humility. They were in it together. They needed each other – they were not whole without each other. They were called to recognize their own gifts and the gifts of others, regardless of the status they held in the imperial reality. 

The counter-cultural community was helping them to reorder their lives around what was truly life-giving. This is how I would define the will of God – that which leads to abundant life and right relationship. That did not mean it was an easy path, but they were not alone. 

When I think about what this call means for us today, I think of a vibrant ecosystem. In a healthy ecosystem all of the plants and creatures and humans are working together, knowing their roles and not throwing the web of life out of balance. We see this wisdom in Indigenous cultures the world over. There is a relatedness and a knowing of each other’s capacities and limits. There is a mutuality that becomes possible when everyone is committed to the thriving of everyone else. 

When Paul was writing his letter to the Romans, he did so with the knowledge that the Roman empire was crumbling. Do not conform to this age (this social reality) he was saying, because it is passing away – it cannot endure its own weight and violence. This is not a far cry from the unsustainability of the extractive empire in which we live. We know and can feel it is passing away, which makes the commitment to an alternative way of being imperative. 

Just like the first century followers of Jesus, we cannot extract ourselves from the empire in which we live, but we can choose to order our commitments and relationships and finances differently. 

Keesmaat and Walsh put it this way, “Paul is insisting that the household of Jesus is radically different from the household of Caesar. The two households operate out of conflicting home economies. The economy of empire is one of exclusion, status, and opulence for the very few, but the home economics of the kingdom is one of inclusion, mutuality, and equality. The household of Caesar imposes hegemonic order, while the household of Jesus embraces diversity without judgment.”

Our bodies in all their particularity and diversity are needed in the ecosystem of the kindom. I mean, I think I’d rather call the kindom of God, the ecosystem of Life with a capital L. This is what Jesus or Yeshua the earthy rabbi from the country was inviting people to be a part of, taking cues from the birds of the air and flowers of the field. They live their lives as interdependent beings and have everything they need, he reminds us. 

I think being a living sacrifice might at times challenge us to put our bodies on the line but I do not believe it is ever something we are called to do alone. Nor do I think being a living sacrifice means giving beyond what is healthy for our bodily integrity. In a thriving ecosystem no being is required to give to the point of depletion. 

I am so grateful for the embodied life of this community, as we participate in the ecosystem of Life! I feel its vibrancy and health in the ways that we show up for each and in the ways that we name our limits and in the ways that we laugh when things get absurd and in the ways that we give generously and in the ways that we embody togetherness when our social reality is coming apart at every seam and in the ways that we address our failures when we’ve hurt each other. 

It is not an easy path at times, and there is much to lament, but we are not alone. May we continue to seek the teachers and guides that we need, as we accompany and guide each other. May we trust the wisdom that lives within us. And may we celebrate the gifts that are abundantly present among us. Amen.