All means all. Big, small, visible and invisible.
Amanda MacQuarrie
January 27, 2019
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1 Corinthians 12:12-30
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. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
Imagine your body.
All parts of it have a part to play...
Not just the big things like hands, and feet and eyes and ears...
The limbs that move us, and enable us to move things, or see things or hear stuff…
Think of the little, unseen but just as important things,
Tastebuds,
Blood cells,
Neurons,
The healthy bacteria in our gut,
Even annoying things like body hair have their part to play, insulating us against the cold.
Each plays its part,
Contributing to the body, and unless there’s illness, one part of the body doesn’t attack another!
Imagine the body that Paul is referring to… Imagine church!
What if church was somewhere that everyone might play a part?
What if church was somewhere that everyone felt valued and that their contribution was worthwhile?
What if everyone who comes along on a Sunday wanted to play a part?
What is the fellowship you attend like?
Does it encourage and enable you to use your God-given gifts? To exercise your ministry?
Imagine one that does...
God,
It is your church,
Not ours.
A gathering of your people,
Brought together to worship you,
And for the good of the world.
Encourage us to see it as you imagined it…
Enable us to let go,
So that you might re-imagine, rebirth, reshape and remake us,
So that we might be the Bride that you imagined for your Son.
Amen.
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