Look Who's Teaching You Now!

       I had a wonderful lunch with a bunch of hungry college students today.  I shared some good food, great conversation, and had fun all at the same time.  I was also challenged to think and learn.  It began with me sharing a story from early in my ministry.
       I became Agnes pastor shortly before her 100th birthday.  I was her pastor for five years and during that time, she taught me a great deal.  It began the first time I brought her Holy Communion.  I shared the readings from worship that morning and began to talk about my sermon which was based on a reading from 1 Corinthians.  I was close enough to my graduation that I still thought I was quite smart with all of my degrees.  Agnes interrupted me.  "Excuse me, pastor.  I know I only have a third grade education but I've been reading Paul for over 90 years.  Let me tell you what I think he really meant."
       I've shared this story many times before because it was an important turning point for me; I began to learn to value the wisdom of "lived" faith beyond academia.  But today, I was given another opportunity to think and learn.  Before I could get to the "moral of the story", the student I was talking to asked me what were the particular insights she gave me, what did Agnes teach me about what Paul had to say?  My reply wasn't particularly insightful and I've been thinking about it ever since.
       I went back and looked in my records and found the text for that day, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.   I had spent a great deal of time writing on the text, how Paul tells us that we, "though many, are one body" in Christ.  We have different roles and gifts but we are gathered in Christ.  We need each and everyone person despite our differences.  I'm sure I was carrying on in a very detached and hypothetical way, trying to bring it all to some plane of spiritual community.
       What I learned from Agnes that day (and the years following) was Paul's words taken on a personal and very real level lived out a long time.   We humans are a varying lot, very different from each other and yet the same in our ability to break promises, hurt one another in various ways, disagree and be disagreeable with one another.  We are alike in that no matter how hard we try; we will always make mistakes and need forgiveness.  Life is hard and terrible things happen to even very good and faithful people: crops fail, loved ones die, and our bodies fail us.  Belonging to Jesus doesn't prevent these things from happening and sometimes we do feel very much alone in our grief and suffering.  But being gathered into one body means that we are here to support and pray for one another and hold one another in love.  You do what you can to help one another.  It's not a matter of being buddies but a matter of faith.  Being part of the community of faith is what gets you through the worst of times.
       Soon after that first visit, my daughter (a toddler at the time) became ill with pneumonia and was hospitalized.  Agnes, who had lost children due to lack of antibiotics (before they were invented and when there were no doctors in the area), worried about her, continuing to pray for us and ask about her for months.  Our visits became times of mutual ministry and exchanges of care as we were nourished with the Word in scripture and bread and wine.   My personal life and my ministry are all the richer from the blessing of knowing her.
       Belonging to Christ is being gathered into this wondrous group of all kinds of people, many of whom are so different that on our own, we might not ever have come to know or care for each other.  We are not just enriched by their presence in our lives, they are necessary to the life of the body of Christ.  The person I learned from today was not even born when I had that first conversation with Agnes.  Now I have learned from them both.  Who are the different voices in your life that have taught and cared for you along the way?  Pray also about the people who need your hospitality and ministry.  Read Romans 12:4-12