Measurement
The Church, the Body of Christ, is one body with many members. This is an analogy we are all pretty familiar with at this point, but as I read this passage again, I think we are missing the significance of this passage. While it may be familiar, we often don’t act like we really understand it. Whatever part we play in the church seems unclear. We can’t fully grasp our individual identities as members of the Body. In a world where we so often feel alone against problems bigger than us, how do we find our place in the Church?
Sometimes, we can’t help but wonder where we fit into the church. If all I do is show up, is that enough? Unfortunately, this is a persistent problem and one of theology more so than involvement. Doing more doesn’t help. I’m a vicar, training to become a pastor, and I still don’t think I am doing enough sometimes. Not everyone will share this sentiment, but I suspect many people will, and the problem is simple: measurement.
We can’t really get an accurate sense of a thing without comparing it to something else. That’s why we use measuring cups and spoons when we bake. We know how much stuff will fit in the space, so we can know how much stuff we’re putting into our cookie dough. So, what do we measure ourselves against? Unfortunately, there are a lot of things.
Sometimes we measure ourselves against our past selves or what we expect to be in the future. I prayed and read the Bible more and had greater self discipline in high school. In the future, I will hopefully be more organized and professionally and financially responsible. Unfortunately, being caught between memory and hope can lead us to despise who we are now. We are always in a transition between who we were and who we hope to be. This may leave us feeling hopelessly stuck in liminal space. We can never measure up against ourselves.
Other times we compare ourselves against the challenges we face. Between personal struggles or problems facing the entire world, we all face such an overwhelming array of obstacles that it seems we could never measure up. I can’t fix the world’s problems. I cannot close the political divide in this country. Climate change is a problem too big for me to impact individually. Even people with the equipment and education aren’t always able to save people from COVID, and I don’t have anything near their expertise. And all of this remains in the backdrop of the problems in our personal lives. Some people are afraid for lack of money. Some people feel alone. Others are worried about things that might happen to their loved ones. When we measure ourselves against all these problems, it never looks like we have what it takes to make things better.
There are also times we compare ourselves against other people. This is perhaps the most common thing we do to either overinflate our self-esteem or to make ourselves feel miserable. This is certainly a problem I have from time to time. My grandfather was a far more successful and beloved minister than I currently am. I’m convinced that my younger brother is smarter than me. I can’t compete with the work ethic of my dad. I don’t come close to my mom when it comes to pouring out support and simply knowing what to do in general when someone is going through a difficult time. And that doesn’t even begin to capture all the great qualities of everyone I know, qualities that I could never attain myself. What can I do if everyone is better at everything than I am?
Of course, that isn’t exactly true. I am better than some people at some things. If we feel like everyone is better than us, that’s usually because we are imagining everyone on a team against us. We can’t stack up against everyone, obviously. That’s too many people! Similarly, we can’t measure up against all the problems in the world. That is an unfair fight. In reality, we don’t even have to face our own problems alone. Our measurements aren’t correct. We are measuring ourselves against things we should never need to. It’s like measuring salt for cookie dough in a four cup liquid measuring container rather than with a measuring spoon. So maybe if our measurements aren’t coming out right, we need to adjust how we’re doing them. Maybe the problem isn’t really measurement.
An overdeveloped sense of self to the exclusion of others is the real culprit here. Because of our emphasis on the freedom, power, and identity of the individual, we develop an anxiety around not measuring up to impossible expectations. We strain to assert ourselves against a whole society that seems to be constantly greater than us. But Paul suggests another way. Being the Body of Christ means being part of something greater than ourselves.
I don’t have to try to be better than my loved ones. When their qualities exceed my own, I should celebrate. They can make up for what I lack. Some people need to be hard working to keep the world running. Others need to be well informed and able to make sense of the big picture to give the world a better direction. Against a single person, the problems of our age are insurmountable, but we aren’t fighting against evil alone.
As the Body of Christ, we don’t need to be in competition against each other. The extreme idolization of individualism and competition in our culture have produced an anxiety in us that hinders our ability to join together for a better future. We have trouble claiming an identity for ourselves that isn’t about being better than someone else. Scripture gives us an opportunity to escape this way of thinking. We aren’t alone. We aren’t against each other. We can resist a culture obsessed with separating us, rely on God’s promises, and come together to face even the greatest challenges of our time.
The Church is bigger than us, and God is even bigger than the Church. While you or I may not measure up against our problems, God certainly measures up.
