Consider an example of remembering the dismembered in our society.
It was a university town in the early ‘70s. Mark, a university student with long flowing hair and tattered blue jeans, which at the time were his symbols of rebellion, was walking down the street on a bright Sunday morning. He could not have told anyone why but on impulse he climbed the steps of a stately church that was just about to begin worship. With a slight smirk on his face, he ignored the usher and walked down the center aisle and proceeded to position himself cross-legged in the aisle near the front.
If he noticed an intake of breath by some of the worshippers, he did not pay attention to them. Nor did he see Arthur Jennings, a stately elder of the church, rise from his seat and begin a slow march down the aisle with the support of his cane. He did not see him, that is, until Mr. Jennings arrived at the front and lowered himself silently onto the floor next to Mark. Was this a game of one upsmanship or a declaration of the reconciling love and acceptance of God? The Word of God is often veiled in a riddle. You decide.
There are repeated ways in which the Body of Christ re-members its members into the community. As the congregation recalls the many ways that such reconciliation happens on a regular basis, it builds its confidence in offering such reconciliation to the many who are desperate to be included. Every time forgiveness is given, barriers are crossed and hospitality is offered, the revelation of God’s reconciling love is made visible.
An illness often creates an experience of isolation. Our mobility is restricted, our fears haunt us and our pain often causes us to center our focus inward. The ministry of presence offered by numerous members of the church not only helps break that isolation but reminds the ill that they are members of a Body that cares for and prays for them.
A critical time of isolation and dismemberment is at the time of death. At such a time, we gather as the Body of Christ to remember and be re-membered into the Body. We affirm again the faith that proclaims that God, not death, has the last word. The Body saves us from despair that would dis-member us at death. We are surrounded by the communion of the saints both living and dead.
