Please Don't Amputate The Body
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series V, Cycle C
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.... Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. (vv. 12-14, 27)
The 1975 comedy movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is a satirical look at the Middle Ages through the eyes of the British comedy troupe, Monty Python. Graham Chapman portrays Arthur, King of the Britons, who assembles a group of knights to sit with him at his round table. God appears to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They reluctantly agree and begin their search.
While searching for the Grail, King Arthur encounters the ominous Black Knight portrayed by John Cleese. The Black Knight refuses to let the king pass, and a battle ensues. The king cuts off the knight's left arm and then says, "Now stand aside worthy adversary."
The knight responds, "'Tis but a scratch ... I've had worse. Come on, you pansy."
Still wielding his sword in his right hand, the knight attacks the king -- until he loses that arm as well. King Arthur proclaims victory, but the armless knight will not give up. He continues to fight by kicking and head butting Arthur.
The king replies, "Look ... you've got no arms left."
And the Black Knight retorted, "It's just a flesh wound. Chicken. Chicken."
Arthur then dismembers both of the knight's legs and says, "All right we'll call it a draw."
But the Black Knight is still unwilling to concede and yells to Arthur as he rides off, "I see. Running away then. Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off."
We are so much like the Black Knight -- unwilling to admit that our body has been amputated. But when we are not at church, our body of Christ is incomplete. The effect of our dismemberment has been stated, "Every time you are absent from church, it is a vote to close the church doors."
The truth of those words cause discomfort. The church is only as strong as its attendance because our strength comes from pulling together, and our absence makes us weaker.
It is when we pull together -- in worship and Sunday school -- that we are the body of Christ, we need all of our members present. And when we are not here, the body is amputated. It is as if we have cut off a leg. Maybe we can still function, but we are not at full strength. We hobble more than we run.
Let's not amputate the body of Christ and be in denial about it. Let's make the body of Christ strong by pulling together as we worship our worthy God.
The 1975 comedy movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is a satirical look at the Middle Ages through the eyes of the British comedy troupe, Monty Python. Graham Chapman portrays Arthur, King of the Britons, who assembles a group of knights to sit with him at his round table. God appears to them from a cloud and tells them to find the Holy Grail. They reluctantly agree and begin their search.
While searching for the Grail, King Arthur encounters the ominous Black Knight portrayed by John Cleese. The Black Knight refuses to let the king pass, and a battle ensues. The king cuts off the knight's left arm and then says, "Now stand aside worthy adversary."
The knight responds, "'Tis but a scratch ... I've had worse. Come on, you pansy."
Still wielding his sword in his right hand, the knight attacks the king -- until he loses that arm as well. King Arthur proclaims victory, but the armless knight will not give up. He continues to fight by kicking and head butting Arthur.
The king replies, "Look ... you've got no arms left."
And the Black Knight retorted, "It's just a flesh wound. Chicken. Chicken."
Arthur then dismembers both of the knight's legs and says, "All right we'll call it a draw."
But the Black Knight is still unwilling to concede and yells to Arthur as he rides off, "I see. Running away then. Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off."
We are so much like the Black Knight -- unwilling to admit that our body has been amputated. But when we are not at church, our body of Christ is incomplete. The effect of our dismemberment has been stated, "Every time you are absent from church, it is a vote to close the church doors."
The truth of those words cause discomfort. The church is only as strong as its attendance because our strength comes from pulling together, and our absence makes us weaker.
It is when we pull together -- in worship and Sunday school -- that we are the body of Christ, we need all of our members present. And when we are not here, the body is amputated. It is as if we have cut off a leg. Maybe we can still function, but we are not at full strength. We hobble more than we run.
Let's not amputate the body of Christ and be in denial about it. Let's make the body of Christ strong by pulling together as we worship our worthy God.
