2025-11-04
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
Sermon: “The God in Me Greets the God in You”
Rev. Judith Bagley-Bonner
(Based on assorted verses of 1 Corinthians 12:12–27)
This morning we turn to one of Paul’s most beautiful images of community — the image of the body. “The body is one,” Paul says, “but it has many members. And all the members of the body, though many, are one body.”
Paul, of course, was talking about the early church, specifically the contentious Corinthians who, not unlike our whole culture, were known for their down and dirty fights. So his words echo across the ages, into our own fractured, polarized times. In a world where our divisions so often define us, where political, theological, and social walls seem to grow higher every day, this image of a single body — diverse, complex, interconnected — feels like a balm and a challenge all at once.
Let’s begin with the word respect, our theme for today. It comes from the Latin respectus, meaning “to re-look at” or “to re-consider.” You can see the word “spectacle” in there- re-see, re-look.
To respect someone is not simply to tolerate them. Contrary to this era’s almost universal modus operandi, it doesn’t mean waiting impatiently for the other person to stop talking so that you can make your own point. It means to re-consider them — to take a real, intentional look at who they are, what they believe, and why they might see the world the way they do, which is to say, differently than you.
Respect is not passive. It’s active, engaged, and most of all, curious.
We are at our best, folks, when we approach each other not out of a spirit of assessment or judgment, but out of a spirit of curiosity, truly seeking to understand for its own sake, not as a step toward trying to change the other. Because as soon as that is the goal, you’ve lost the goal of truly understanding. And yet — how rarely we do this!
So often, when we listen, we are not listening to understand. We are listening to retort. We’re mentally loading up our next argument while the other person is still speaking.
But Paul reminds us that this human family is not separate individuals locked in combat. We are members of one body. Doe the foot hate the hand because it cannot walk? Does the mouth judge the arms because they do not speak?
There is another layer to this word respect. To truly respect another person means to recognize something sacred in them — to see them as made in the image of God.
Yes, every single person.
Even those whose actions are abhorrent. Even those whose beliefs repulse us. Even those who seem consumed by hate. I know this may annoy or even enrage some of you, but I will go ahead and posit anyway that every one of us, even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden, even Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton, just to make sure I offend everyone equally, even your worst enemy, was made in the image and likeness of God and carries the divine spark within them. And here’s the real kicker- You, as a Christian are commanded to love them!
Now don’t get me wrong, that divinity may be twisted, covered, or buried deep beneath layers of hate, fear and pain — but it is still there.
And where there is life, there is hope.
Imagine if we began every conversation, every disagreement, with the greeting namaste — “the God in me greets the God in you.”
What if we trained our eyes to look for that spark, however dim, in everyone we encounter?
That doesn’t mean excusing harm or pretending that evil isn’t real, and it certainly doesn’t mean we curtail our activism. I’m still going to attend rallies and make my five calls on a regular basis. I’m still going to preach Biblically which at times appears political. But it does mean grounding our response in the truth that all people — all — are capable of redemption, transformation, and grace. Even the political figures you most detest.
So here’s the thing: every last one of them is made in the image and likeness of God, and when we get all enraged by the algorithms that are created with the express purpose of enraging us, when we snap and become caustic we are contributing to the cesspool of toxicity that is out there polluting the world’s energy and establishing a very low cultural baseline. Let me be clear. I have done this as much as anybody over the last years. But you know, I’ve begun to get sick of it. And I suspect you have too. Aren’t we just sick and tired of being manipulated by the memes and sound bites and can’t we, at least those of us here and now, step up and pledge to model a better, higher way?
When we disrespect someone for not doing what we think they should do, we are disrespecting the divine design of their being. And God made this body diverse on purpose. Each one of us has unique capacities and limits. Each one of us is called to a different kind of faithfulness.
When we honor that, when we respect the whole body — even the awkward or uncomfortable or unfathomable parts — we honor God’s creativity itself.
And this truth doesn’t just apply to how we treat others. It applies to how we treat ourselves as well. Self-respect is an essential part of this equation.
Many of us are far more generous with others than we are with ourselves. We compare, we criticize, we come up short.
We say things like, “I’m not as productive as she is.”
“I’m not as articulate as he is.”
Or my personal fav: “I’m not as brave or prophetic as they are.”
But friends — you are not asked to be someone else’s body part. You are only asked to be you.
The hand does not have to run a marathon. The ear does not have to lift a weight.
Your call is to be faithful within the scope of who you are — your temperament, your gifts, your limitations, your story. And here’s the incredibly good news: you only have to do what you have the God-given capacity to do!
God made you as you are, and loves you as you are. Respecting yourself means honoring the divine image exactly as it plays out within you, too. That doesn’t mean we never stretch out of our comfort zone, but there is stretching and there is snapping and God never calls us to snap, to betray the spirit of how God created us by trying to become a different body part.
So what does all this mean for us, in this polarized moment — when every headline, every debate, every social media feed seems to pit one member of the body against another?
It means we have a choice. Over and over, every day, we have a brief nano-second of choice.
We can choose to treat each disagreement as a battle to win — or as an opportunity to cultivate curiosity and understanding and love.
We can choose to demonize the other — or to search for the divine within the other.
We can choose to demand sameness — or to celebrate diversity.
We need the dreamers and the doers. The questioners and the caregivers. The prophets and the gentle nurturers. The young and the old. The loud and the quiet. And yes, the red and the blue.
Each has something sacred to offer.
Folks, respect — true respect — is holy work.
It is not soft or sentimental. In fact, it is a spiritual discipline.
It demands that we look again — re-spectus — that we look again at one another, and at ourselves, through the eyes of God.
So the next time you find yourself face to face with someone whose beliefs make your blood boil, try to pause.
Breathe.
Look again.
Say, even silently: Namaste. The God in me greets the God in you.
And when you look in the mirror — do the same.
Namaste. The God in me greets the God in me.
For we are one body. Many members. Many voices. Many stories.
But one Spirit, one hope, one love that holds us all.
Amen.