When we think of "the Body of Christ" we probably think of one or more images immediately. Many of us would right away reflect on the consecrated Bread of Holy Communion, presented to us with those very words "The Body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven." Or perhaps we think about Jesus himself, as presented in the Gospels. One of us, in the flesh, with all the challenges that presents – culminating in the heart-breaking story of suffering and death that we heard on Palm Sunday and will hear again on Good Friday, before we are surprised anew at the story of Jesus, one of us, in the flesh, rising again. The sacramental and historical Body of Christ.
And, yet, for the first 1000 years of the Church, or so, it is much more likely that a different use of the phrase "Body of Christ" would have been the first one to be considered: the ecclesial Body of Christ. That's us, the Church (ecclesial). We are ourselves the Body of Christ in Baptism. The tangible, communal life of Christ in our own world, in our own time.
It's understandable why the sacramental "Body of Christ" would come to mind first, for many of us. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer focused, rightly, on the Eucharist as the main way that we worship on Sundays and that has made us keenly aware of the sacramental Body of Christ. Eucharist is the meal in which we are deeply reconnected with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus (the historical body) and where Jesus unites us with one another (the ecclesial body).
The Eucharist, though, is deeply connected with another fundamental sacrament, Holy Baptism. It is in the waters of Baptism that we are first united in solidarity with Christ, in his life, death, and resurrection, as we enter the waters and come out of them again, clothed, as it were, in Christ himself. In many times and places, the newly baptized would be put in a white robe after coming out of the water, clothed in Christ, part of the Body of Christ. Infant baptismal gowns and vestments such as albs are reminders of how we put on Christ in Baptism.
When we gather for Eucharist, we are returning to our Baptism. Of course, that's part of our challenge right now, isn't it? To be, for the most part, unable to receive Holy Communion in a direct fashion, to gather with our fellow Christians. That is a challenge. And yet, we are no less the Body of Christ, each of us in our homes, than we are when we gather. Receiving the sacrament does strengthen and renew us as we gather, but we are still the Body of Christ even when we are distant. And that is why we pray. And work for God's reign. That is why we continue to support those in need. It is why we go to such lengths to create new forms of worship, using familiar rites and prayers, through online media or through at-home worship. Because we are already the Body of Christ. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ's own forever. Nothing can change that.
Lent is historically a time of preparation for those to be baptized and for all of us to consider anew our life of faith and recommit to it. Sometime this week, before we get to Easter, spend some time in the prayer book on page 292 – the Renewal of Baptismal Vows – and think about what those promises mean to you in your life. How are you called to live out being the Body of Christ in this unusual and difficult time? How will you let the world know that you are one with Jesus? When we get to Easter, let us recommit ourselves wherever we are to this new life we have been given in Baptism, this renewed calling as the Body of Christ for the world today.
