June is Pride Month, in which we celebrate/honor/continue the fight for the rights of LGBTQ folks and the victories associated therewith.  And, like virtually ALL of my LGBTQ sisters and brothers, we have heard the “Why do they need a month?  Why not celebrate veterans?  It should be the traditional family that is celebrated!” comments ad nauseum.  The “Traditional Family/Straight Pride” is celebrated every damned day, and Military Appreciation Month is in May and Veterans Month is in November, and if these folks were truly concerned about those things, then they would celebrate them and shut up. 

But I digress.  Anyway……  What folks don’t understand or simply refuse to accept is that we are who we are.  It’s been repeated far too many times by people who should know better that being LGBTQ is a choice….which is, of course, utter BS. 

Sadly, it’s our Trans siblings who are bearing the brunt of the condemnation and hostilities at this moment in time.  We hear folks who vilify them saying dreadful things to them.  I think one of the most hateful/ignorant/stupid/hypocritical accusations thrown at Trans folk is the “God made you a man (or woman) and to want to change that is an affront to God because God made you the way you’re supposed to be!”  Yeah.  OK.  So by that logic, if one is born with a heart defect God made you that way and for you to want to get it “fixed” is an affront to God.  If you were born with brown hair and you want to go blonde, that is an affront to God.  If you have poor eyesight/crooked teeth then to want to “fix” it, that is an affront to God.  The logistical twists and turns of bigoted thinking drive me to distraction.  The truth of the matter is that we are all of us, unique, different, and that all of God’s people, ALL of God’s people, make up the Body of Christ.

Today is a great Feast Day in the life of the Liturgical Churches throughout Christendom:  The Solemnity of Corpus Christi.  This day is celebrated in recognition of the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, and everything the Eucharist is and means.   We all know that the Eucharist was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper.  We all know that Catholics believe that the bread and the wine become the actual body and blood of Our Lord.  We all know that our Protestant brothers and sisters believe that the bread and the wine are symbolic of the body and blood of our Lord.  We all know that Anglicans and Episcopalians believe that the bread and the wine are still bread and wine, but are super special and are indeed the body and blood of Christ, but not really.  We all know that wars have been fought over these two basic, yet entirely different, beliefs.  We also know that from many, if not most, of the liturgical pulpits in the world, today the Word will be proclaimed concerning the Eucharist. 

Today, however, I would like to put a different spin on Corpus Christi.  I would like for us to leave the upper room of Christ and the disciples, and jump ahead a few years to Corinth, and to listen to what the Apostle Paul had to say about “the body of Christ” in Chapter 12, verses 12-14, of his First Letter to the Corinthians:

12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. 

We, the Church, we, the people of God, we, those of us who confess Christ as our Lord, puny imperfect people that we are, WE are the body of Christ.  Some of us dress funny.  Some of us talk funny.  Some of us have emotional issues.  Some of us just have issues.  But we, ALL of us, together, make up the body of Christ.  Warts and all.  Some of us are wildly and multiply talented.  Some of us are incredibly intelligent.  Some of us have been blessed with physical beauty.  Some of us have been blessed with spiritual beauty.  Some of us have none of those things.    But we, ALL of us together, make up the body of Christ. ALL of us. We ALL belong.

My point, here, folks, if I haven’t made it already is simply this:  WE, all of us, make up the body of Christ.  What one person brings to the table may not be of particular interest or value to another person, but there is someone at that table who needs just that.  Perhaps we feel that this person or that person isn’t quite what we would like to see in our church, or in our family, or in our lives, but to someone, somewhere, that person is exactly who is needed.  The very person whom we consider to be “less than worthy” to represent Christ and His church may just be the exact one who is needed in certain situations.

Can you imagine Jesus saying to anyone, “You’re not a member of the club.  You don’t belong here.” 

So, that drag queen you’re hating on?  That transman or transwoman?  That politician?  That bigot down the street?  That news anchor?  Those immigrants?  Yep.  God loves ‘em.  They are part of the body of Christ.  Those gay folks?  Those brown skinned folks?  Those unhoused folks?  Yep.  Loved by God.  How dare we decide who God loves, who is worthy of God’s love?  Sometimes we need a stark reminder that Romans 3:23 says:  “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  ALL have sinned.  Every darned one of us, so Pot, meet Kettle.  And we, our puny, different, unique selves are loved by God and make up the Body of Christ.

The music artist, John Michael Talbot, sums it up nicely:

One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.

And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.

Gentile or Jew, woman or man, no more.   Many the gifts, many the works, one in the Lord of all.

Grain for the fields, scattered and grown, gathered to one, for all.

One bread, one body, one Lord of all, one cup of blessing which we bless.  And we, though many, throughout the earth, we are one body in this one Lord.

So….who are you excluding?  Should you be?  Would Jesus tell ‘em no?

As we go about our daily lives, let us remember the lessons of today, this Feast of Corpus Christi, that we all of us make up the One Bread, the One Body, the One Cup, that is the Body of Christ.  Amen.