We Are Called-- We Are Connected


April 2018 Devotion 
Rev. Paula Lawhead

1 Corinthians 12:12-21

 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 would 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 would 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.”


You are needed.  As a connected part of the body, you are needed.  And no one can say otherwise.  You see, God has connected you, along with everyone else, to His Body and each part is valued and necessary.  Equally necessary.  God has created each of us – you and me and everyone – to be His children and has arranged us as He chose.  What a truth to hang onto in these days of seeming division and polarity.  But when God put the body together from different parts, He did it in such a way that the organs would work together in harmony, each doing its part – a different part.
In this old world we tend to regard likeness as the prerequisite for human dignity.  This world claims that if we are different, we have different merit.  So we try to maintain the illusion that all of God’s creatures ought to live up to some singular false standard to be dignified.  Paul in this letter says, no.  We are created diverse.  Equality of merit does not mean similarity.  Just the opposite, in fact.  Christ has begun the great work of bringing God’s good news of significance to the lowliest places.  We are called to live in our diversity, each with their own function, to join in this ongoing work of good news and grace.  An eye cannot be an ear.  The value it has is because it is an eye and nothing else.  And no one can say otherwise. 
Gracious God, help me to remember that I am uniquely created and connected to your body to fulfill my part in serving all. 

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