Not for Sale--May 29, 2026

Not for Sale--May 29, 2026

"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." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

In a world where just about everything is treated as a commodity, there are countless ways for us to be consumers. 

We choose not only which groceries we buy (and which brand of green beans or energy drink to put in our carts) but also which brand of grocery to buy them from.  We choose which platforms of social media to use, clicking buttons of approval and teaching algorithms how to market more products in front of our eyes to buy.  We consume news sources (and more often, opinion sources that dress themselves up as selling news), movies, TV shows, and which streaming services on which to watch them all. And of course, we select our which politicians we support, which representatives we elect, and which influencers we allow to shape our thinking.  All of them are viewed in our culture as products to be consumed, purchases we make with our money, time, and attention, and commodities for sale.

And the thing about buying a product is that you, the individual customer, are free to come and go from the transaction as you like.  You have no obligation to stay with any particular brand, style, or store. You can be a repeat customer if you wish, or you can go somewhere new with every shopping trip.  You can buy what is popular, or you can choose something that you alone happen to like.  And the moment you get tired of it, you can throw away the still half-full box into the trash and get something new--maybe even "ranch" or "nacho-cheese-flavored." And once your transaction is complete, the relationship with the store, its suppliers, and the cashier is over. No strings. No lingering requirements of connection. We have built a whole way of life around having impersonal and interchangeable transactions of consumption, and it has a way of making us see everything in the world in those same terms.

But the Christian community is different.  In fact, it is different in a great many ways and at multiple levels, compared to the modes of consumption in the world's grand marketplace.  For one, we are not ever merely customers shopping for a preferred "religious experience."  It is, of course, tempting to think of ourselves that way--sometimes, folks even talk about "church shopping" like they are browsing for a new dishwasher or deciding which Mexican restaurant to try out next weekend.  But the writers of the New Testament don't think of it like that.  These words which many of us heard this past Sunday make that certainly clear.  You don't hear Paul say, "Just as the shopping mall has many stores, and you are each individually customers choosing which one to shop at."  He doesn't write, "You are all consumers of church, and you can come and go as you please from one franchise to another, because you're the customer, and you're always right!"  And neither does the apostle claim, "With your membership in Christco, you can each choose to drink whatever flavor of whatever beverage you wish!" We aren't consumers paying for a product or an experience; we are members of a body who belong to one another and are interconnected with one another. That makes the Christian community unlike any commodity or club.  We are a family bound by the Spirit.

And at least part of what that means is that we don't just walk away from Sunday mornings like satisfied customers, having filled up our "religion gas tanks" until we decide which different brand, station, or grade of fuel to get next week.  We belong to a community together, sharing both joys and sorrows together, bringing each of our differences, and making space for one another's gifts.  In Paul's imagery we are members of a body, and the parts of a body are attached to one another; you don't quite know where the hand stops and the wrist or the arm begins. The nerves that run through our legs connect back up to our brain.  Each eye needs the other in order for our brains to make a full and three-dimensional picture for our senses.  And in the body of Christ as well, we are not just a random assemblage of isolated parts or individual customers.  We are connected to each other, in such a way that your unique experience and perspective helps me to see things I would not have noticed otherwise.  My gifts help meet the needs that you bring.  That's a very different way of experiencing the world compared with the never-ending shopping experience of our commodified culture.

When you walk into a grocery or department store, you don't have to interact with any other customers if you don't want to. You are an individual on a mission to buy bananas and shampoo (or whatever else is on your list), and it doesn't affect your goal one way or another if the next customer pushing the cart behind you gets what they are looking for or not. The Law of the Big Box Store is It's Every Shopper For Himself, right? But in the community called "church," we do have an obligation to help one another to be nourished, strengthened, fed, and forgiven.  We do have a commitment to honor one another's gifts, bind one another's wounds, and help shape one another in the likeness of Christ. We aren't just here to consume (and then rate the experience of what we have consumed); we are here to build one another up.  It is unlike so much of our lives these days, and it is just the kind of counter-cultural way of living that the world needs.

Today, what would it look like for us to see the world, not as a colossal shopping experience where we each scavenge alone for what we want, and instead as a communal enterprise to help each of us grow and all of us to mature in love? That's the invitation of this day--and every day. That's not a product; it's a gift. And it's not for sale.

Lord Jesus, deepen our connections to one another, and help us to resist the impulse to see everything as a commodity for sale.