Body of Christ

We can all have our own individual relationship with God; when we pray, that may well be a time for ‘me and God’ (or possibly that should be ‘God and me’). Which is good. It is important to develop that relationship and allow it to deepen; to allow it to permeate every part of our lives. But had you ever thought that in our individual prayer we are still part of ‘God and us’? Part of the wider body of Christ in which we are all members. Could it be that by focusing solely on ‘God and me’ in our prayers then we are excluding other members of the body of Christ? Moreover, it might be that we can disable that Body, at least in part, by highlighting our own relationship with God over and above all others, even if that is the last thing we intend.

Have you ever tried praying within your own relationship with God, but including the wider Body of Christ? Not by intercession, but in that part of your prayer which is ‘God and me’. Acknowledging that the giving of myself to God, which may be renewed regularly, is a giving within the Body of Christ, not something separate from it. I suspect most people reading this blog are part of a regular worshipping Community and would see that as integral to their faith; for those of you who are not, there may be good and valid reasons why not. But in neither case is that what I mean. It is more that I can only give myself to God as part of the Body of Christ. Not the total exclusion of us and not the total exclusion of me, but both. We can only come before God as part of that wider ‘us’ which is the Body of Christ, both our own particular part and the wider Body. The giving of me to God comes within that.

Our culture tends towards the individual. There is a sense of having choice, of where we live and what we do, however much that choice may be limited by background or economic circumstances. It is what I want to do, even when we may limit that ‘what I want’ by income or the needs and wishes of other people. That has advantages and disadvantages. But it also affects the Church and how we view our faith. Inevitably. We are part of our culture. It affects how we view the Body of Christ; I suspect we come to it with a much more individualistic viewpoint than we may have done in the past. That may also have advantages and disadvantages.

It may well mean people focus on their own vocation or calling from God; both in a sense of ‘do I have a calling to ministry?’ sense and in an ‘what am I called to do at this particular point in time?’ sense. This applies both to lay people and ordained. Many lay people give huge amounts of time and money to their church, and that particular ‘doing’ may well change over time, and come from their own individual relationship with God. But that individuality may well also mean that we miss what it is to be part of the Body of Christ, what it is to be part of a collective. To be one.

I think that most of us will have been part of a community at some point in our lives: family, school, work or whatever. We might feel that, actually, we know what it is to be an ‘us’, thank you. Well, yes … but that is not quite what I mean. The Body of Christ is not a community in that sense, although individual churches may well be. The Body of Christ is one. Not one church, although that too. But one body, just as we have one body (see 1 Corinthians 12:12 onwards). We are one and part of one another.

To pray, individually, to God, as part of our individual relationships with God, but as part also of the Body of Christ, knowing I am not an ‘I’ but a ‘we’ might change the way we express our faith. What I do becomes less important as it is seen to be only a part of what we do. It is that communal doing that is far more important than any individual doing. That does not mean we can stand back at let everyone else get on with it; what I do, when I am able to do, is still involved in what we do. But neither does it mean we have to ensure that everything is done the way I wish it to be done, or that I have to be central to what happens, or keep myself overly busy. It means we are part of the Body of Christ, and, as part of that Body, we can trust God to spread the message, even when it feels like all is failing. It means that if my particular part of the Body ends, the Body is still alive.

What this means in our own situations will differ, and may well depend on how many there are of ‘us’ and exactly what the context is. Nevertheless, whatever it means for us as individuals, to be aware that we are part of the wider Body of Christ seems to me to be vital, for our faith and for our Church. God knows this; but time spent simply praying as God and me, knowing that is rooted in God and us, may help it resound more for us as well. We are One Body, one church, and we can only express our faith as part of that body, not separate from it.