THE BODY IS WHO WE ARE


But as it is,
God arranged the members in the body,
each one of them,
as he chose.
...
But God has so composed the body,
giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
that there may be no division in the body,
but that the members
may have the same care for one another.
...
Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
vv. 18, 24b-25, 27

================

I’ll be honest: I want to be a catalyst. I want to be one of the persons that future spiritual leaders point to and say, “That’s where I learned to think theologically.”

That is, I think, my main task in the college ministry—and maybe elsewhere. I’m a horrible administrator. I much too blunt to be a caring encourager. My mind wanders too much to be a good listener or a prayer warrior. I require too much thinking time to be an evangelist.

But one thing I do. I think out loud. That is, for now, my task as a body part. I am not enough; no more than the encourager or the administrator is enough. The body is all of us.



Here, I think, is Paul’s point about the body:
Diversity without division.
Unity without uniformity.



This is who we are.


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“Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.” http://www.esv.org/

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:50 PM

    Laura,

    I like your summary on Paul's point about the body. It seems to validate a proposition made by a friend in a comment today. He wrote: "It is interesting how all profound thoughts can be expressed in just a few words..."

    http://isthistheway.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/12/a_simple_model_.html#comment-27155577

    I am not actually sure that he is correct. But it gives hope and encouragement that we should be able to express ourselves in few words.

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  2. As I commented on your post, I think both short statement and long story (and a ton in between and otherwise) are needed to communicate. Short statements are powerful when they refer the listener's mind to a story they already know.

    We--I--need to practice both.

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