Wednesday, April 30, 2025

MUSINGS April 30, 2025

Rev. Dr. Ian Gray | Co-Interim Moderator

“Something More”

In my earlier years I studied philosophy. From time to time my brain still goes off on a philosophical tangent and I view the world around me through this perspective.

An example of this is a truth that undergirds all of life, indeed all of our reality. The Greek philosopher Aristotle expressed this idea about 2,400 years ago.

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“the totality is not, as it were, a mere heap,

but the whole is something besides the parts,”

(Metaphysics, Book XVIII)

That seems simple enough. It is something that we take for granted, but it gives form and shape to our lives and our universe. Without it there would be nothing but a collection of different bits and pieces. There would be no cakes, only flour, sugar and eggs. There would be no dog, only a wagging tail and a cold nose. There would be no bridges or buildings, no nature to enjoy, no solar systems or galaxies.

Aristotle’s idea is the basis of all systems theory, identifying the relationship between the parts and the whole. Our understanding of this relationship enables us to build and create complex wholes out of ordinary parts.

I believe that it is a fundamental part of creation itself. It articulates a basic insight into the nature of God’s creative ability, giving the whole a separate identity from the parts.

Think about all the things that you create in your day to day life. In every one of them you are utilizing Aristotle’s idea and participating in God’s continuing creative activity.

Paul also expresses this concept of the whole in his first letter to the Corinthians.

“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.” (1st Corinthians 12:12)

In this passage we are presented with something that we take for granted, the human body. Each piece of this body can be separated from the others and examined as a separate part, eyes, hands, knees, feet etc. Each of them have their own name and identity.

Yet when we put them all together they become something more. They assume a new identity which is “a body”. They are more than just a collection of separate pieces.

That is one of the ways that Paul views the Church. He sees a collection of individuals (pieces) who relate to each other in a particular way to form a body, the Body of Christ in the world.

That is what I see when I look at St. Andrew’s, a collection of many individuals each with their particular gifts and talents who form something greater than themselves. They are connected through their common faith and commitment in such a way that they form a congregation. Even more, they become the Body of Christ.

This means that together we can do more than we could as individuals. We can have wonderful worship services. We can reach out to touch more people in our world and change more lives. St. Andrew’s Church can even reach into cyberspace with God’s love to welcome people from around the world. From a philosophical perspective, from a theological perspective or any other perspective this is a wonderful congregation made up of wonderful people.

Together, we are part of something greater than ourselves. We are something more.

We are St. Andrew’s.

Ian

Rev. Dr. Ian Gray
Co-Interim Moderator