Sermon 8/27/2017: Fitting in the Framework

This sermon is based on the text from Romans 12:1-8

There’s a show that's been on BBC America, called Orphan Black.  It’s a program about human clones.  Clones, as I’m sure you know, are those who share the exact same genetic material called DNA.
In this show, the clones are young women, about 28 years old, who for most of their lives, don’t know about each other.  In the story, there are probably a hundred of them scattered across the globe.  This program focuses on a handful of them, but more show up throughout the series.  The lives and those of the adopted families of the main five become entwined with one another, and they become their own kind of community.
The single actress who plays these roles is amazing.  She expresses the uniqueness of each clone so that their personalities and personal histories can be defined at a glance.  When a new clone enters the story, the writers find creative ways to help the audience get to know them quickly, but also leave plenty to be discovered throughout the episode or season.
There are so many interesting things about this show, but the point of bringing it up is based on this morning’s reading from Romans, where Paul says,
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
The characters on Orphan Black, though they have the exact same DNA, are very different from one another.  There is the rough and tumble single mom, the psychotic eastern European, the devoted wife and soccer mom of 2 adopted kids, the lesbian scientist, the police officer, the CEO, the reclusive computer expert, the beautician and more.  This is not unlike what Paul describes when he wrote:
 “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”
Their functions in their family group, the parts they play in their family group, are complex and they don’t always work well together.  In fact, one of them is hated by all the rest. They were not raised together, their childhoods were very different from one another, their life experiences couldn’t be farther afield from one another.
But they are symbiotic to one another.  They each need what the others bring into community—even the one who they all hate.  When one clone dies, and they do, a hole is left in their family, in their story.
This fact is most evident as the only child born of one of the clones, begins to understand her gift, her unique bond with the sisters.  She can deeply feel what each clone feels.  She knows that there are more sisters than the rest of the clones know, because she senses them—their fear, their happiness, their deaths.
The program, Orphan Black, demonstrates the complexities of living in and being a part of a community.  Viewers will find each character as perhaps an exaggeration of or stereotype of a personality, but will also find that these caricatures are mirrors that reflect the way many organizations, groups, families and churches work. 
 Earlier in Paul’s message to the Romans he wrote:
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

While the writers of Orphan Black may not have had this passage in mind when they were creating their show, and while the program can sometimes illuminate a particularly dark side of humanity, one of the messages expressed is this:  when one of the clone sisters thinks more highly of herself or makes decisions for herself instead of for their unique, extended family, things begin to go badly.  Predictably, television stories like to highlight the tension and suspense, so repeatedly, one of the sisters will go rogue, thinking she knows what’s best, putting herself and the rest of them at risk, and it can be disastrous. 
Conversely, when they work together, using their unique gifts and talents for the good of their whole family, they are far more likely to have good results. 
This is an odd, yet interesting example of what it means to be in community.  While it is (really, really!) not a faith based program, it can illustrate how a faith community discerns the gifts and talents each brings to the community:  In Orphan Black, a bunch of women with the same DNA, who come from all kinds of life experiences, who come with their woundedness, their wholeness, their sorrows, their joys, their education, knowledge and lives—it is they who come together, trying to figure out how to live with the uniqueness of each as they reach toward a common purpose.

In a faith community, like this one, the common purpose is to glorify God.  To do this, the community discerns together, develops together, grows together to do the holy work of God through the example of Jesus.  How this is done is as unique as the individuals here, because each brings their own gifts and talents, histories and life experiences that then fit into the framework that each faith community has developed through prayer and planning. It comes from listening for and to God’s call, and then acting.
 What comes from listening to God’s call is what Paul talked about at the beginning of today’s lesson:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Paul is reminding hearers to live, giving of oneself to God, open to the call of the Creator to do the things that Jesus modeled throughout his ministry.  This is not about earning a trip to heaven through works. It is about loving one another as Jesus loved: of giving of oneself because that love creates such a strong desire to do what is good and acceptable and as perfect -- as imperfect, beloved, forgiven, redeemed, broken and healed humans can do.  Paul recognizes that how this is expressed does not look the same to each person, because each person has their own way to be transformed by love and to show that love, based upon the spiritual gifts and talents each receive from God.

 If the fictional clones of Orphan Black—fictional individuals who are, in a fictional story, created from the same fictional DNA: containing the exact same, fictional genetic make-up; or are cut from the same proverbial cloth, can be so unique from one another, can act so differently from one another, and still struggle to find their way together, imagine how challenging and exciting melding all the unique gifts and talents, attitudes and belief systems from people who come from different DNA can be.

 And yet, that is what Paul is calling Jesus Followers to do.  Calling the followers to pay attention to what the Holy Spirit has instilled in every individual to allow the work of God to flow through, sharing God’s love, as individuals, but more importantly, as communities of faith.  Because when people gather together, to break bread and share the cup, then each is transformed into who we are, together.

Please look around you and see who is around you.  In a few minutes, during the Peace, share not only the peace of Christ, but take a moment to share something you admire about that person, some gift you have witnessed or personally experienced or something you appreciate about them.  Let’s start these exchanges with just a few people—maybe 5—during the Peace, and continue them after the service, during our marvelous coffee hour.


Let us pray.  Holy One, you have created each person with special attributes to be shared with one another.  Help us to see them for what they are:  holy gifts from you.  Guide us in healthy ways to use these gifts to be in community.  Open our hearts and minds to the opportunities you place before us to grow, individually and together through and with your love, especially helping us to more freely share your love with one another.  Amen.