About twenty years ago I was visiting my brother in the Philippines. For a few days I lived in the lap of luxury and I wondered where all the poverty was that I had seen on the television and read about. After a couple of days my sister in law took me to visit a shanty- town. We went to the school where the children were being taught. They were so excited. They had probably never seen a white face before and after they had sung a song of welcome they ran across to me and began to touch my skin and point at me and laugh with one another.

They were so excited but I noticed in the midst of all that was going on two little boys sitting on the floor. They were listless and had huge eyes. They just sat staring at me unable to join in with the others. As soon as I got a chance I asked the teacher about them. I can still remember the shock I got when I was told that they were in the third stage of malnutrition and there was no hope for them.

I think for the very first time I understood at a deeply felt level that these two children were my brothers and that we were intimately connected because of Christ. Up to that point the connectedness between humanity let alone between Christians had by-passed me at anything more than an intellectual level. I began to reflect when I got back home on what it means to be the body of Christ, on Paul’s theology of the body of Christ

One of the keystones of Paul’s theology is that of unity or community. It’s not, for Paul, a religion of practices, the way it became, but much more of participation and therefore radical transformation into an organic unity of Christ. We are his body. The relationships between us are deeper and far more real than even our blood ties. They are spiritual bonds that tie us together and which can never be broken.

All Paul’s ethics were tied up with his concept of community. In his writings he has lists of vices and virtues that encourage people living some sort of social, communal, forgiving life together. The sins of rivalry, jealousy and greed that makes you an individual make it impossible for you to live in community. Co-operation, Unity, forgiveness, patience and mercy are his values. Everything is based on his understanding of people living in unity and communion together.

Sadly we are born in a period of history, which is probably the most individualistic culture the world has ever produced. Everything is about me and my fulfilment. Paul is coming from a different place. He sees everything in terms of community. He knows the truth of the body of Christ.

I often wonder whether we understand at all what Paul is talking about when we live in a world where 1 billion people live on less than a dollar a day and a further 2 billion people live on less than two dollars a day. Two hundred and six people in the world have more money than all the developing countries put together. Do we have that sense of being part of one another? If we do then the desire for justice and peace has to be at the very core of our being.

For Paul we are, as community, the living presence of Christ in the world and, as such, like the Lord before us we are to be love for the world not just do loving things but become love. Somebody once said to me that the litmus test for our Christianity is how we respond to the least of our brothers and sisters.

But maybe it goes even deeper. Are we aware that everything we do has an impact on the body? Even the things we do in secret. Our actions and thoughts influence the way we relate to others and think about others even when we think nobody else knows about them. If you harbour unforgiveness, it will make you hard hearted. If you are judgemental even deep within you will not be as compassionate as you could be. If you are doing things that make you ashamed the guilt and shame you feel will effect the way you relate to others. The list goes on and on. John Donne’s words ‘no man is an island’ ring true when thinking about the body of Christ.

Thank goodness we have been given the power of God to enable us to become what we are called to be. Let’s ask the spirit to help us understand that we are the body of Christ and to free us to live out our calling in the world.

Fr Chris Thomas heads up the Irenaeus Project. He is a member of the Emmaus Family of Prayer and a priest of the Liverpool Diocese.