How Can I Find My Role In The Body Of Christ?

Unity sounds beautiful until you try to live it with real people. Pastor Darren starts with Paul’s “body of Christ” image and makes it concrete: some of us are eyes who see a path forward, some are ears who listen, some are mouths who speak clearly, some are feet who keep momentum, some are hands who do the work, and some are hearts who keep watch over the community’s wellbeing. The laughter is real, but the question underneath is serious: where do you fit, and what happens to the whole church when any one gift stays hidden or gets pushed aside?

Ascension Sunday gives the message its backbone. We walk through Luke’s picture of Jesus’ last moments and the meaning Luke wants the church to remember: Jesus’ death fulfills Scripture, repentance and forgiveness open a new reality with God, and the disciples are told to wait for what comes next. That “wait” is not empty time, but a forming season that points toward Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Then we pivot to John 17, where Jesus prays “so that they may be one as we are one.” It is a bold vision of Christian unity that does not depend on everyone being identical, but on God holding people together with purpose. Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Corinthians echo that urgency because the early churches fought too, and Paul insists the body is only strong when every member is able to bring what they have. The closing image, a bell choir, makes the whole idea audible: no one ringer can carry the whole melody, timing matters, and even silence has a role.

If this helped you see your place in the church community with fresh eyes, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review with the “body part” you think you are.

Transcript

Body Of Christ And Our Gifts

Pastor Darren 0:00

So I landed on body of Christ imagery despite our scripture this week. Body of Christ. Right? People have uh um, if you've journeyed in the church for a while, you've probably heard this med this metaphor, this imagery of how we understand all the people who are Christians together. We talk about the body of Christ, meaning we are all one. And the uh imagery extends to everybody having specific gifts and graces. And uh so as you start thinking about that body and people's individual gifts, you start talking about the eyes and the ears and the mouth, the legs and feet, arms and hands, the heart. You know, it's powerful imagery for us. You know, you think about eyes as being those who can see kind of where we need to go and and how to get there. You talk about ears, those those people who can kind of just hear what's going on and allow people to be heard on that on that journey. The mouth, the people who can kind of speak things clearly to grab the vision and communicate it to the body so that it can move forward. Legs and feet, these are the people that keep us moving, right? Making sure we're moving, getting going and not standing still, arms and hands, the people who get stuff done, and heart people, the people looking out for everyone, the people who are uh have their finger on the pulse of how everything's going. I'm curious in this room, this part of the body of Christ, how you see yourselves. How many people are eyes people? They they can kind of see what needs to happen and how to get there. Are you eyes people, visionaries, prophets? Not a one of you, I guess. No wonder we're still in this same spot. We have ears people, people who are good at listening, people good at feeling out anyone? You cowards. Here we go. Oh, yeah. Barbara was telling me, come to the choir every now and again, right? Yeah, yeah, the peanut gallery. I don't know, but I don't want to fall into a stereotype. Just preaching to those people over there. How about mouth people? And I'm noting this because we need liturgists. Legs and feet, people who are drivers getting things done. There we go, Stephen. There's so many cowards this morning. I'm not like writing your names down on paper. Arms and hands, people, people just can get her done. There we go. We've got a few of those. Good for you. We got a few on Wednesday mornings, I know, too. And heart people. I meet with our heart people on Tuesdays. I'm sure there's more. People who are in our prayer group, our care group, looking out for everyone. Uh that's kind of the heart and soul of a church, is that that breadth of who's in the room and who's able to uh uh fulfill their role and bring that gift to the rest of the

Ascension Sunday In Luke Explained

Pastor Darren 3:38

body. So I land in the Luke passage, uh started in the Luke passage uh because it's Ascension Sunday. We're talking about Jesus' uh last moments here before he ascends. And if we break up the scripture, there's really four parts. There is the reminder with some hope that his death, right? His death, it is a fulfillment of scripture. This is not an accident. We should find hope in that. Tragedy has occurred in a sense, but we should also recognize this was how it was supposed to happen, right? Then part two is some instruction. And this instruction is useful, I think, if you're somebody studying Luke, because it's instruction about what is the core message. You got to figure Luke in the words that Jesus offers, he's going to be trying to capture what he feels like is the core message that Jesus brings. In this case, instruction about repentance and forgiveness of sin. That is the new reality that we understand in this new faith called Christianity. It's about a loving God who forgives us and gives us the space to turn back, to turn and begin to follow in the ways that are blessings to ourselves and to others. And after that instruction, there's further instruction to wait. You know, many people believe that Luke and Acts were written by the same person. So this would fit really, really well for those of us who know the beginning of Acts, where the disciples are sitting trying to figure out what has just gone on. Their leader has passed away, they're not sure what it all means. And next week we'll talk about the story of when it comes real for them at Pentecost. But that instruction really does make sense. And then finally Jesus ascends to go and be with God, which is why we end up with this as our scripture for today on Ascension Sunday, the Sunday before Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit. So it should all make sense.

John 17 Prayer For Unity

Pastor Darren 6:04

And yet, over the course of this week, when I was wrestling over what to talk about, I landed in this Ascension Sunday, but also that it's music Sunday for us. Music Appreciation Sunday. And somehow I landed on the version of this same scripture, but in the Gospel of John, where John, uh uh uh where Jesus is is praying, and he's praying for his disciples that he's gonna have to leave soon, and he's asking for God's presence when he leaves, which we understand to be the Holy Spirit. And he says these words, listen to this. This is uh uh John 17, 11. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you, Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, and here's the key part so that they may be one as we are one. So that they may be one as we are one. He's talking first about the unity that God and Jesus have together. That would be an important emphasis for John and his gospel, that unity of Jesus and God, but there's also this unity he's asking for that might be true for the disciples going forward. He's asking God to say, bring them together. And I think we can safely extend the understanding that he's inviting God's presence in our overall unity as the body of Christ, that we Christians would move together as one. We landed in this imagery in the Bible study this week. I guess uh um we shouldn't be too surprised that if you're doing an intro to the New Testament and you reach the Paul sections, that you're going to be talking about the body of Christ and that it would overlap to a certain extent with this season, ascension, and uh moving into Pentecost. Um but we talked about the body of Christ passages this week, and I think that's part of why I landed on this Christ

Paul On Conflict And Shared Value

Pastor Darren 8:37

imagery. Most of those passages that talk about that image, the body of Christ, the large ones are in Ephesians, the letter to the church in Ephesians, and the letter to the second letter to the church in Corinth, right? Second Corinthians. And Paul at the time, and those of you who studied your New Testament, especially with Pastor Walt, you know this. Paul's trying to establish a structure for this movement, right? The Christianity just kind of getting going, you know, especially after Christ's uh resurrection. And now there's this group of people trying to figure out what they're going to do, and that's where Paul steps in. Most effective gift of mouth, shall we say, with the ability to speak some truth that inspires people, helps them understand where they need to go? And uh in this case, the churches, all these new churches in these cities, well, they're they're trying to figure out how they're gonna move forward. And believe it or not, there was a certain amount of disagreement in the right way to do it. Does this shock any of us? Right? You know, Christians then would wrestle, uh, they wouldn't always uh get along with each other and all, you know, not like today. I'm grateful that here in 2026 we have figured it all out. Right? We Christians today not only get along with each other, we get along with non-Christians too. Paul, I decided we need like a sarcasm button on the stream, just in case it's not clear as I'm speaking. So, yes, it's perfect today, but back then they needed structure, they needed it figured out. Paul was trying to help them do that. And when you read the letters, you can see this backdrop of infighting that's happening uh in in uh um in these early churches. Everyone feels like they have the right answer. Paul's response in many in many of the instances is to remind them of everyone's value. In essence, everybody has their role. Everyone has been blessed with something to bring to enhance God's light and love, and by extension, we suffer when anyone is inhibited from bringing that sharing. The larger body is weaker when some aren't represented for whatever reason that that happens.

Music Sunday And The Bell Choir Metaphor

Pastor Darren 11:38

On a day like Music Appreciation Sunday, hopefully you can see why I made this scripture a pivot. How much of music performance, especially with a choir, is grounded in this imagery, in this understanding of this body of different people bringing different gifts, being able to make something great in their unity. I think the final piece of how I landed in this scriptural pivot to John came from our friend Carol up here in the choir. She sent me this Facebook post from a uh pastor over in uh the first congregational church. Wait, can't so the first congregational church UCC in Melrose MA, is that Maine? Is that Massachusetts? Massachusetts. All right. Sent me this Facebook post that really wraps it up well. Now, you should know, we pastors, we have enough pride slash arrogance that when we see something that's written, we change it just a little bit so we don't feel like we have to. But this guy wrote it really, really well. So I'm gonna cut this corner right now. An ode to Reverend Dominic Taranowski at the First Congregational Church UCC in Melrose MA. Let me read this to you. The bell choir always strikes me as a metaphor for our church. No single ringer in the bell choir can play the entire melody alone. There is no way any one person can hold the necessary full set of bells to play the song, although Nick will try sometimes. By themselves, they can offer several notes at the right time, but never the full hymn. That's what makes it such a powerful image of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul reminds us that the body of Christ has many members, each with a different role. In a bell choir, that truth is audible. You can't jump the gun and play your part first. But when each ringer rings the uh watches the director, waits for the right moment, and rings faithfully, something larger emerges, a song no single person could create. Church life works the same way. Some of us carry bright high notes, others of us provide the low, steady tones that give depth and grounding. Some ring often while others wait patiently through long measures of rest. Even silence has a purpose. It creates spates for someone else's sound to emerge.

Gratitude For The Choir And Amen

Pastor Darren 14:21

Friends, this is embodied in all music, I would argue, and particularly in our music program here at the United Methodist Church of West Village. So, choirs, today we celebrate you for the time, for the joy, for the spirit that you bring to us each week. But we also we also salute you for being the model of the body of Christ for us with every anthem, with every hymn, each and every week. Amen. Amen.