Many Parts, One Body

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink…  But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”  ~ 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 18

Generally, the human mind thinks it is more harmonious to put together teams of people who are alike. The natural persuasion of people is to associate with those they are most alike. You can see this played out in high schools where the jocks, preps, nerds, band geeks, drama geeks, goths, and other groups form cliques. Cliques are created from a need to belong, a need to fit in, a need to be accepted. Where better will you be accepted than with a group of like minded individuals who share your interests?

 

When we began this crazy World Race adventure, we went through a two-day process of selecting our teams. During this process, Jimmy McCarty, WR staff, commented that my first team, Team Triumph, did not make any sense on paper, but when he observed us working together he began to understand where G-d had his hand in and over this team. While our personalities and strengths are completely diverse and at times conflictingly opposites, when we work together we create harmony. In community and sharing, Team Triumph discovered and developed our individual niches wherever we went, using our gifts separately to glorify G-d together. For example, in Romania, some of us were particularly drawn to developing leadership among our host family for the Arcalia church plant, others were drawn to visiting the homes of church members who were ill or elderly, and still others were drawn to loving the Roma (gypsy) children and sharing the Son with them. Each of these parts was essential to the work in Arcalia. No one part was better than the other; but all worked in harmony to create the impact that we had in their community.

 

The Church, the body of Christ, is described as a body in the Bible. One body made up of many parts. Each part is unique, individual in talent, gifting, and purpose. No two parts are alike and no part can serve the function of another part or try to be another part. This is where the body of Christ is unlike any clique or social group. When the body works together in healthy ways, it is productive, active, and alive. Our squad leader said recently that our squad is like an orchestra and G-d is the conductor. Each of us plays our part and creates a beautiful symphony. Without any particular part, the music just doesn’t sound complete.

In the same way, I have seen Shekinah grow to personify the beauty of the harmonious workings of the body of Christ even in this short week and a half. While voluntering in the soup kitchen this week, I paused a moment and realized that each of us was enjoying the part we played in the daily operations of the soup kitchen. Austin was sorting rice, a mundane task most of us would try to avoid, but he enjoyed because it gave him time to listen to sermons. Brittany, Monica, and Brenda were prepping vegetables, peeling, cleaning, chopping. Sam was cutting onions because he had mastered the technique of chopping an onion a particular way to minimize the tears. Rebecca was washing dishes, which I think is the most unpleasant part of cooking, but she loves. And I was right at home serving the prepared dishes to the homeless, the widows, the holocaust survivors, and whoever walked through our doors that day. While we all happily did tasks that were less enjoyable to us as well, we each found a niche that was our own that contributed to the running of the soup kitchen, that contributes to the community of Shekinah, that contributes to the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ, many parts, but one body.