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Body of Christ
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 30th April 2006
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Luke 24.36b-48
One of the mysterious things about the resurrection is Jesus' body.
What was it like?
We've just heard in the Gospel how the disciples could touch Jesus.
And that Jesus could eat fish.
Jesus wasn't just a ghost.
But his body was different.
Whatever his body was like, we aren't as lucky as those disciples.
We don't have that evidence before our eyes.
Jesus' body has long left the building!
Now we think about Jesus' body in a different way.
We say, "we are the body of Christ".
We as a group of people, part of global Christianity, are Jesus' body now.
I'm going to reflect on that this morning.
Personally, I find it reassuring that the disciples struggled to believe Jesus was risen.
Jesus appears to them.
"They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost."
Jesus shows them his hands and feet – the wounds of his crucifixion.
He invites them to touch him.
And still "in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering".
Sound familiar?
It's a lovely description: "in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering".
It was true for the original disciples, as it is true for us today.
But it's thanks to those ordinary people with their joy and their doubts that we are here today.
They were ordinary people.
A wonderful part of the Easter story is that Jesus appears to ordinary people.
He doesn't appear to the authorities: to Pilate or to the Chief Priests and say "told you so"!
We'd like that, wouldn't we?
Instead he appears to his unsophisticated Galilean friends - the fishermen, the tax-collector.
It's thanks to them we are here today.
It's also thanks to us that we are here today.
We support each other in our joys and our doubts.
Our creed starts "We believe in one God".
You might know the coal-fire image for the church.
As a pile of coal, the fire burns well, supporting itself.
If you take a piece of coal out of the fire it cools and stops burning.
We need each other to support the faith in each other.
We not meant to go it alone.
We are the body of Christ.
There's another powerful phrase at the end of today's Gospel.
Jesus tells the disciples about the Messiah is to suffer and rise on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness is to be proclaimed.
"You are witnesses of these things."
Jesus empowers his friends.
Jesus implies their responsibility.
Today, the responsibility is ours.
We are witnesses of these things.
We who haven't seen Jesus or touched his wounds.
We are the witnesses today of his suffering and rising.
We are to proclaim the good news of repentance and forgiveness.
We are the body of Christ.
Perhaps you know the words of Teresa of Avila -
• a nun in 16th century Spain.
Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
These are good words in this season of annual church meetings,
• we've had our own for Emmanuel last Sunday.
• And this evening there is the Cathedral's.
Annual meetings and admin remind me of a story about Creation.
When God created the world, God said enjoyed its goodness.
Satan did too, but in his own way.
As he contemplated marvel after marvel he said, "It's wonderful! Now let's organise it!"
God replied "that will take all the fun out of it!".
And yet these annual meetings are necessary and important.
They might not be exactly exciting, but they need to happen.
Having said that, they are exciting, because of what is covered in them.
The agenda for the Cathedral meeting this evening includes reports from the wonderful range of ministries that take place:
• from the Counselling Service to Helper for Domestic Helpers;
• from the Bookstore to the Flower Guild;
• from St. Stephen's in Stanley to DB Church;
• from the Michaelmas Fair to Christians in Central.
And at our Emmanuel meeting last Sunday
• we highlighted our worship and the people who help with that;
• our efforts to build our community with church brunches and other events;
• our links to the Pokfulam community.
These are good, holy things.
We thank God for them.
They are the practical reality of being the body of Christ.
Being Christ's hands and feet.
I've been on a clergy retreat this week –
• the annual retreat for the Anglican clergy of Hong Kong.
A group of 50 clergy –
• what a bunch …
• an extraordinary sample of the body of Christ!
We stayed in the Ritz Hotel, Macau.
The Ritz conjures up images of extravagance and luxury, like the Ritz in London.
Macau makes people think instantly of gambling!
I can neither confirm or deny what you're thinking.
Kai Tak rules!
Anyway, during our free time I've been reading a book about the modern world.
A place of rapid change where traditional securities are eroded:
• jobs are no longer for life;
• people move regularly
• the environmental change threatens our lifestyles
• technology develops faster and faster.
The author suggests that religious communities have a unique contribution to make in all this uncertainty.
They are places with messages of hope.
They espouse values of humility, duty, obligation, judgement.
They maintain a sense of the holy.
They provide community.
We, here at Emmanuel, are part of that.
Whether we're conscious of that or not, we embody…
That is being Christ's body.
Of course we are not perfect.
Notice that Jesus risen body isn't scar-free.
He shows his hands and feet to his disciples.
His wounds haven't been miraculously removed.
We too, Christ's body now, aren't scar-free.
We are people with our own baggage and scars
The story of Emmanuel Church over its 25 years includes different chapters, locations and scars.
But as the body of Christ we are healed by God's love.
Bethanie might be the next chapter for us.
The prospect of moving to Bethanie is very exciting.
Bethanie is the building on Pokfulam Road, 150 years old, with a beautiful chapel.
It's being renovated by the APA.
Whether we move there or not we will remain the body of Christ.
Notice that is independent of the building.
The body of Christ is a group of people that could meet anywhere.
One of the good things about meeting in this room is we focus on each other – we're not distracted by building issues.
Indeed one of the advantages of Bethanie is the APA will look after that side of things.
Here in a plain room, we are more aware of people being the church.
And the practical aspects of that:
• of being the body of Christ
• setting up for worship;
• making music
• readers and intercessors
• providing refreshments
• teaching Sunday School
• bringing flowers.
As members of the body of Christ here, each of us can be involved with those very practical things.
In doing so we support each other
• we encourage faith in each other
• we care for each other.
You may recognise these formal words from our prayer book.
I'll close with them.
We are the body of Christ.
In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.
Let us then pursue all that makes for peace
• and builds up our common life.
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