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. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. (1 Corinthians 12:12-14)
In this famous passage from his first letter to the Corinthians, brother Paul constructs an elaborate illustration of the value of diversity within the church, and the importance of each member respecting and honouring the other. A while ago, a friend of mine, Ursula Wiig (campus chaplain at the U of S) sent me a reflection of hers on this particular reading. As a Sophian, I proclaim that “God is Love, and Her Body is All Creation.” Ursula’s reflection, building on the work of eco-theologian Sallie McFague, applies Paul’s wisdom to a cosmic context. Here it is:
The Universe as the Body of God: A Model for the 21st Century
A Paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
[This paraphrase is inspired and informed by Sallie McFague’s book, The Body of God: An Ecological Theology, in which she proposes a model of the universe as God’s body to speak to our current environmental crisis. This model resacralizes the world. It presents all of creation as the embodiment of God, but the author does not suggest that God is fully contained by the world. For McFague, who has argued in earlier books that all models and metaphors inevitably have their limitations, this model is “a way of thinking of God’s transcendence in an immanental way – that ‘the world is our meeting place with God.’”*]
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts;
and though all its parts are many, they form one body.
So it is with the Body of God.
For everything was created by God from a single unity
and everything is made up of matter and energy;
whether earth, air or sea,
sun, moon or stars,
rocks, plants, animals or humans.
The whole universe is the Body of God.
Now the Body of God is not made up of one part but of many.
And if humanity says,
“Because the plants cannot reason, they do not belong to the Body,”
the plants would not for that reason cease to be part of the Body.
If the whole Body was human, from where would come its food?
And if humanity then says,
“Because the rocks are inanimate, they do not belong to the Body,”
the rocks would not for that reason cease to be part of the Body.
Humanity is just one tiny part of the whole Body,
and of that the Body of Christ is a smaller part.
So if members of the Body of Christ say,
“Because Buddhists or followers of Mohammed are not Christians
they do not belong to the Body,”
Buddhists or Muslims would not cease to be in the Body of God.
All creation,
including peoples of every race and creed,
make up the Body of God.
In fact, God has arranged the various and diverse parts of the Body,
each one of them,
just as God wanted them to be.
If there was only a single part,
where would the whole Body be?
As it is, there many different parts but one Body of God.
Furthermore,
our earth, this planet, cannot say to the sun and stars, “I do not need you!”
Nor the water say to the plants, “I do not need you!”
Indeed, those elements pertaining to life cannot say to the inanimate elements,
“We do not need you!”
Nor humans say to rest of creation, “You are not important.”
On the contrary,
those parts of the Body we take for granted or deem lesser are indispensable.
All living things – mammals, fish, plants and even bacteria –
are dependent on the non living, physical elements –
light, gases and chemical components.
And the parts we think are repugnant should be treated with respect,
for the organisms of decay –
the bacteria and fungi –
convert dead organisms into nutrients so that the cycle of life can continue.
And the parts that have been deemed “lower” life forms
should be treated with special honour.
The so called “higher” mammals – humanity included –
cannot live a day without plants.
We “higher” life forms are but consumers,
and humans the highest consumers of all.
Whereas plants are the great producers of the world
and are worthy of high esteem.
All parts of the Body are interdependent,
but the most vulnerable and dependent of all
is the so called crowning glory of creation – humanity.
God has combined the members of the Body
and has given greater honour to the parts that lack it,
so that there should be no division in the body
but its parts have equal concern for each other.
If one part of the Body of God suffers,
every part suffers with it;
if one part is honoured,
every part rejoices with it.
Now you, with all of creation, are the Body of God,
and to each part God has given different gifts.
* McFague, Body of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993) p.1.
Ursula Wiig, April 2008
(Thanks Ursula!)