Embodying Christ: The call to be church in an Australian context

The well known biblical and liturgical image of the body of Christ for the church is an obvious choice, but it has weaknesses. A church as the body of Christ, implying a group of people who have achieved perfection and gained status in the kingdom of God, sits uneasily with a marginalized and obviously flawed Australian church with a guilty past and present. As a result, the image of the body of Christ is re-presented as "embodying Christ", which better explains the organic nature of the church and depicts it, not as perfect, but on a journey following a marginalized Jesus Christ and working for the well-being of society.An Australian church that is weak, ambiguous and flawed is associated with Luther's theology of the cross where a suffering crucified body of Christ is the means through which God brings healing and transformed new life for all. Embodying Christ is argued as the call to be church in Australia enabling God's hidden "proper work" of healing and transforming creation to take place. This thesis proposes this is possible, not in spite of the church's brokenness but because of it.