A Body
Laura Digan
January 25, 2022
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1 Corinthians 12: 12-18 (NRSVA)
12 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. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
I love the song ‘A Body’ by Sanctuary First’s Jim Steel. I especially love the lines "Some of us, some of the weakest parts, are so essential,” and also “If one part, one part of the body is to suffer, then all parts, all parts of the body, they will suffer.”
In church, as the body of Christ, we are all connected. Even those seen as the weakest are essential and if one part of the church suffers then as the body of Christ we all suffer.
This idea of the one body is not just limited to church or community but to all of God’s creation. All of creation is interlinked. You take away or change one element then the whole of creation suffers. In December it was reported that over the space of three weeks 100 dead puffins washed up on the shores of the north east coast of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland. All of these dead birds were emaciated which suggests that they were not able to access their usual food source. The deaths of these puffins highlights an issue within the marine food chain. The loss of one element has an impact on the rest of the body. This is just one example.
The other week I was reading about how a newly discovered plant in Cameroon has been named after the actor Leonardo di Caprio. It was named after the actor as he had influenced decision makers to revoke permission given to loggers in the forest where this tree had been found. Imagine that logging had gone ahead and this tree would never have been discovered and was lost forever to the loggers. What other life that depended upon that tree would have been lost forever too? Life that had been created by our Father God.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord,
Help us to see that all life upon our planet is connected.
Help us to see the value of all life that exists upon our planet,
And give us the wisdom and desire to protect the life that exists upon our planet.
Amen
Listen to A Body by Jim Steel.
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