“Our 149-Year-old Body Checkup”

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

In just over a week, I have a checkup with my doctor, John Sager. I am approaching my sixty-third year in a couple of weeks. So, this will be a body check-up on that 63-year-old body. I look forward to eating more than kale and drinking water after my appointment on February 10^th. 

In today’s scripture passage from the Apostle Paul, he describes the church as a body, particularly the Body of Christ. Since I’m getting my body checkup soon, I thought perhaps this might be a good time for our 149-year-old church body to have a checkup. And, since Central Point PC tunes in regularly to our service, our unofficial sister congregation is also in the doctor’s office, wondering about her 113-year-old body as well. First, let’s take a closer look at this body metaphor for the church. 

The bulk of this passage is devoted to Paul’s development of a body metaphor to illustrate the proper relationships among members of the Corinthian congregation. Paul had some real frustrations with this church. First, in chapter 11 of the letter (Verse 18), Paul mentions that they had some unfortunate divisions. Some claimed spiritual superiority based upon which leader they followed. Members of the church were suing one another and sleeping around.

Paul also mentions his frustration with how believers practiced taking communion to remember Jesus. An additional division was economical, and that division showed up around the holy meal. Both wealthy patrons of the church and working-class poor were part of the congregation. Unfortunately, the well-off crowd gathered first, around dinner time, and started to have communion, eating all the bread and overindulging in the wine. By the time house servants and other working poor got off work and arrived later at the house church, there was nothing left, and those who were there were inebriated and having a party. Paul wrote in verse 34 of chapter 11, “If you are hungry, eat at home, so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the rest, I will give instructions when I come to visit.”  In addition, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, some in the congregation were claiming superior spiritual gifts over others. There was a lot going on in that congregation that needed adjusting! 

So, Paul was desperately trying to teach and unite the church, asking them to think of themselves as members of one body. From verse 14 on, Paul developed a detailed metaphor of a human body to explain the relationship among members of the Body of Christ. Despite the metaphorical language he used, Paul’s meaning was clear: all members of the Corinthian congregation were equally necessary to flourish the Body fully. Highlighting certain members over others, treating others with contempt, or excluding members of the Body from communion were unacceptable behaviors. Paul wanted the Body to work together, to see itself as connected and united so that it might carry out its mission as a church and spread the Good News.  

The meaning of this metaphor for the Body of the church today is clear- Support one another. Work together to spread Christ’s love and justice to the world around us. Remember that no one part of the Body is more important than another. The Body is to be united by the Spirit and teachings of Christ, to be in good shape to demonstrate Christ’s intention for a world more on earth as it is in heaven. Those things can occur if the Body is together and in decent shape.

So, lets begin with an examination of our friends who make up the 113-year-old body out at Central Point Presbyterian Church. They are a body with 42 parts (or members) to it. Their current building was dedicated in 1971. Despite not having a pastor, they have several very dedicated people who make sure ministry happens, as well as worship every Sunday. I see you in the camera, Teresa Bergh! They serve Jesus as they serve their community. They send care bags full of God’s love and needed supplies to various shelters and missions in Medford. They assist students in need at nearby schools regularly. They distribute Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to folks in need and support the Magdalene House financially every year. They distribute Bibles to inmates at two different prisons in Oregon. They collect food and clothing for distribution in Medford nonprofits and missions. They also serve meals twice a month for the 12^th Step Recovery program. Like us, they also house several AA groups, and they now have a Hispanic community worshipping at their facility. It sounds like the body of Christ at Central Point Presbyterian Church is doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. Well done! Jesus, our great physician says, “I’ll see you in a year for your 114^th checkup!” 

What about this Body? We know it was first established on August 28^th, 1875, was formed as a worshiping congregation by Rev. Moses Williams in 1877, and there was a sanctuary standing by 1878. This body has been around for a while! So, what is the state of Christ’s 149-year-old Body here? Are we in shape, or do we need to get to a spiritual gym? 

• Financially, we have a balanced budget for 2025, thanks to your generous giving over and above what we hoped for in pledges by some $10,000. In addition, we have been blessed with a carryover from this past year by keeping spending down as best we could, and some additional gifts. Thank you for this! 
• We gave our excellent staff a 3% cost of living increase, and increased our sexton, Andrew’s salary to a just wage. We continued covering all our past mission funding to organizations like Habitat for Humanity Rogue Valley, Covenant Network, and our partnership in mission with the Presbytery of the Cascades. We also were able to fund our Safe Parking program for the unhoused, thanks to your generous support. 
• We continue to have great support from our congregation for the Indigenous Peoples’ Scholarship for students at SOU. We have two scholarships ready to distribute now and have raised close enough to have 2 more scholarships fully supported for next year as well. 
• We have funds set aside to help cover small repairs and emergencies on our buildings.   
• So, financially, things are looking pretty good for this year, which you’ll hear even more about from our treasurer, Jill Turner, at the annual meeting.  
• Thanks to your support last year, we could take care of the church grounds on several fronts. Our four amigos repair team oversaw plumbing repairs, irrigation fixes, sealing the parking lot and getting new lines painted, repaired 3 windows and put up 30 memorial plaques in the sanctuary.
• Although we lost nine members last year, four of whom went to their heavenly homes, we gained six new members, and our membership numbers stayed right near 100, at 98 members or body parts. And, when our next new members class joins the church in March, we’ll be at 102 body parts. Attendance in person and online remains steady. 
• “At the Well” events for our neighborhood continue. Neighbors and community members came to our Easter Fair and to our third Annual Oktoberfest. The Advent Fair was packed with people, and we had another good turnout for our Cookies and Carols event. Our Lessons and Carols service on Christmas Eve had a little over 225 people in attendance. We also hosted a couple of Covid and flu shot events. I think our surrounding community knows where to find a spiritual shot in the arm, as well as a real one, and that we like to have fun!  
• We continue to proclaim our body here as an ally of the LGBTQ community and welcome all to join us in worship and service. That proclamation is especially important now, with presidential edicts being signed into law over gender, orientation, and the banning of transgender people from serving our country in the military. I’ve also begun a relationship with a leader of the Queer Student Union at SOU, met once with the group, and hope to find ways to be supportive as a church to them and offer discussions on spirituality in the future. 
• I am proud of our session agreeing to be willing to help the city of Ashland and house the unhoused folks in our community for the Severe Weather shelter in November and December of last year. We were the only faith community in Ashland willing to do this, and many people from the surrounding community wrote notes and sent checks our way, thanking us for being the hands and feet of Christ for those in need. 
• We continue to have our Safe Parking program and thank God that our volunteers helped people have a safe place to sleep at night while trying to rebuild their lives. Thanks to this program, people have been able to park without worry about receiving a ticket from the police, have been able to find work, and a steady income, and in many cases, once they have enough for the first and last month’s rent, a place to call home. 
• The Little Free Pantry continues to be a helpful ministry, giving food to those who are food insecure and opening a window to our neighbors who both stock the pantry and leave prayers in our community prayer box. Cascades Presbytery was so impressed with this ministry, they granted us $3,000 to keep up the good work. Thanks to Marcia for writing up the grant, and to our deacons and Donna Wright for overseeing the pantry.  
• Thanks to some very dedicated volunteers, our Audio-visual staff was able to broadcast our service live every Sunday and provide live broadcasts for grieving families unable to attend memorial services. We also upgraded the sanctuary sound system. 
• Through your generous support, our deacons could perform their compassionate ministry. They helped families with fantastic receptions after memorial services and assisted the impoverished with food cards and bus tokens. They provided funds to keep people in their homes through rental and utility donations. Special thanks to our office manager, Susan, who handles much of that distribution every month. The deacons also donated whole turkeys to the Ashland Emergency Food bank. They distributed Christmas baskets filled with all sorts of goodies for 50 families at the mobile home park across the street. They helped another 22 families from Bellview school receive food and gifts for Christmas. 
• We continue to study in the Word on Sundays, in the sanctuary in the chapel, and through our Presbyterian Women’s groups. 

So, I guess if I were to use that analogy of a body checkup, and we were being examined by our great physician, Jesus, I hope he might say, “Keep up the good work, see you when you turn 150!”  

Remember, however, that both of our congregations are part of a larger body of Christ, part of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A, with approximately 1.1 million body parts. I am concerned about this body, and how it responds to the challenge of the sanctity of worship space verses federal agencies. For the last 15 years, sacred places in our country have been places where federal authorities were not permitted. Upon entering office for a second term, Donald Trump rescinded these guidelines that restricted ICE agents from entering “sensitive locations,” such as schools, churches, hospitals, weddings or funerals. Last week the Quakers filed a lawsuit in the federal court in Maryland, alleging this new policy violates the First Amendment, in which “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  

Back in the day, whenever some controversial policy was enacted by our nation, our denomination was one of the first to respond and call for a return to the principles of justice, mercy and love as expressed in scripture. Sadly, the Co-Moderators of our Presbyterian General Assembly (The closest thing we have to a Pope) have yet to respond to the rounding up of refugees and immigrants in our country. Many other denominational leaders have.  

Churches are becoming targets. Last week, one arrest took place on the grounds of a church in Georgia of an asylum seeker from Honduras. He and his wife fled gang violence and were seeking to raise a family in a safe place and came to America. While awaiting his fate, he was told to wear an ankle monitor. The monitor went off in worship, so to keep from interrupting the service he went outside. ICE was waiting. Because he had no documentation, he was arrested and taken away. You will hear more stories like this in the coming weeks. 

I have several concerns over this shift in policy. Jesus tells us the single greatest commandment is “to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” (Mark 12:30-31) With this change in policy, the government now has a say on who we can love in God’s name, and where we can and cannot love them. The sanctuary is no longer a place of freedom. No longer can we be a place of hospitality for all of God’s children, including the refugees who are fleeing violence, war, and famine. The act of offering safe haven has been around in Christian churches since the 5^th century and was brought over to America from European colonists. Churches also played a role in the 1800s, hiding slaves in the underground railroad that guided fugitives northward. The historic freedom to worship without government interference has been taken away. And friends, it isn’t long before not only is our government looking at who is in our worship space, but they will be concerned over WHAT is being preached upon. 

In 1934, German Theologian Karl Barth, along with a few other Protestant pastors, spoke out against the intrusion of the government in their spaces of worship, in what was called, The Barmen Declaration. It says in part, “We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the State, thus itself becoming an organ of the State…The church’s commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ’s stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and sacrament.” 

Our larger body of Christ is under threat of losing its freedom. The head of the body is Jesus Christ, not the state and it is Christ’s teachings that must claim our loyalty as his modern-day disciples. So, our two smaller congregations need to do our part in welcoming all people into our sanctuaries. Paul reminds us the work of the body is as follows-Support one another. Work together to spread Christ’s love and justice to the world around us. Remember that no one part of the Body is more important than another. The Body is to be united by the Spirit and teachings of Christ and called to demonstrate Christ’s intention for a world to be more on earth as it is in heaven.  

I encourage the body of Central Point Presbyterian to reach out to the Hispanic church worshiping with you, to see how you can come alongside them in such distressing times. As for this body of Christ in Ashland, we will move forward to find some way to proclaim the gospel amid all that has gone on in the last two weeks. I’ve spoken to an Oregon Immigrant legal counsel regarding our Ukrainian war refugee families and to Scott Bandoroff, founder of “Uniting with Ukraine.” I’ve asked our presbytery to investigate joining the Quakers in their lawsuit. I even called our national office and pleaded with them to make a statement and to provide legal counsel for all Presbyterian churches in this nation regarding sanctuary and helping refugees. I will do what I can to keep our church a welcoming body of Christ, offering hospitality and welcoming the stranger, where ALL are welcome in this place. God reminds us in scripture “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him or her wrong. The stranger who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love them as yourself; for you were all strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34) May that same God who loves justice and calls us to just acts be with us, guiding our body of Christ in the days and weeks to come. Alleluia! Amen.