I Corinthians 12:12-14, 17-26 (NIV) 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
The digital clock has become a symbol of modern life. With the analog clock, every minute is seen as part of the whole. With digital time, each minute stands alone. Isolation and independence is a common characteristic of many lives today. Understandably, many people want and need some privacy. Yet, the desire can become so consuming that it undermines our life together.
The church is not simply an activity we attend. It is not a loose association of individuals who are interested in religion and moral conduct. It is not a program of helps and hints on how to live. It is not simply a discussion forum on life’s problems. Above all else, the Church is the body of Christ. The church is a community of people where we both experience the life of Christ with one another and seek to make that life visible to the world.
Deitrich Bonhoeffer said, “God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man … Therefore the Christian needs other Christians who speak God’s word to him. He needs other Christians again and again, for, by himself, he will belie the truth … This is the goal of all Christian community: that we meet Christ in one another.”
That is what we are called to be and to do. Some of us may feel that is a tall order to fill. We may wonder how the life of Christ could be made visible through the imperfections and problems of our lives. Alone, as one person, it is difficult to impossible. It takes a community. It is in the blending of our lives, in the contribution of our distinctive gifts that the life of Christ literally rises up in our midst. The whole is greater than the imperfections of the parts.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope, October 20, 1985
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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