The Appendix and other bodily functions…
The human body is cool. It’s amazing how all of the organs and systems work together. All you have to do is go to the Detroit Science Center and see “Our Bodies: The Universe Within” and you will be convinced. Each system and organ has a function. All of the systems depend upon each other. Everything organ counts on every other organ to function properly. Except the appendix, it is useful in a book, but evidently not in the body. But even the appendix can affect the whole body when it is acting up. We recognize these things in our human bodies. How many of us have stubbed our toe and it ruined our whole day. It affected the way we walk and enjoy the day. And that is just a toe. Yes, the human body is truly amazing.
Properly functioning bodies are able to do all that we need them to do. Sick bodies are often limited. There is less freedom of movement and lots of pain. Sometimes there is a disease or sickness that affects the body but it is not seen until it is too late. That is why we need to go to our physician and get regular check ups. I can almost hear that annoying commercial asking me what kind of doctor I have.
The church is the body of Christ. No, I did not say that my church is the body of Christ. And I did not say that your church is the body of Christ. We all are the body of Christ. Some of us are neat parts of the body and others of us are, well, not so cool. But, we each need each other. The Body of Christ needs all of the parts of the body.
That is why I wonder why we are so separate from each other. When that happens, the people in our community don’t see a unified body. They see a bunch of churches fighting for their own turf and not even hanging out with each other. This is kind of like what I have discovered about brains. They are cool when you can’t see them. They are gross laid out on a platter separate from the body. In fact, in my humble opinion, all internal organs should stay that way – internal. When we move around thinking we are independent of everyone else, we are like a brain without a body. Yuck!
The point I am trying to make is that all of the churches need to get together and share the love of Christ. If we go around beating each other up, or ignoring each other, people will not see true love. They will see a bunch of people that care more about being right than being loving. Harsh, I know. Is it fair? I think so.
It shouldn’t even be about being right. For example, the human heart pumps blood. The liver filters blood. And the hip bone is connected to the thigh bone. These are obvious things. The heart does something completely different from the liver. And I am not too sure that the liver thinks the heart is wrong because it is not a liver. Why can’t we figure something out based on what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 12? Jesus said we would be known by our love for each other. Even Paul says love is the more excellent way. It is about love and communion with Christ.
We are the instrument that God has chosen to share the Good News about God from God. We are a symbol of hope and promise. We are supposed to be salt and light. Will you join me and other churches as we seek to make the love of God real in this life? You can be an appendix, but where’s the fun in that?
July 9th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Ok,
The pragmatic in me has to ask, what do you do when the body is simply not interested in working together?
Of course we continue to love them all, however, there are some appendages that simply will not budge. It’s like having one arm that has studied its range of motion, defined 4 movements that it is capable of doing and is focused on doing only those movements. Meanwhile, you have the opposite arm discovering that it really likes tatoos and weightlifting and flexibility training. It can do those same four movements but is excited about all the new possibilities.
The cold reality is that you now have two arms that are not necessarily working against each other but are certainly not working with each other.
At what point do you stop beating one arm against the other?
At some point do we just accept that the one arm will make the same 4 movements and love it for what it is?
Thoughts
~D
July 10th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Here are a couple of my thoughts. I was concerned about the level of commitment some folks were demonstrating in church. My first thought was that I needed to preach ‘harder’ and set the standard. A friend asked why I felt that was my job. Good question. Did my success as a pastor have anything to do with how well people follow my leadership? Am I only successful when people do what I think they should do? My success as a preacher or pastor is not dependent upon what people do or not do (See John 6.66).
My other thought leans toward how we understand the body. I have seen people with neuromuscular disease that had their limbs fighting against their every desire. They are in one body but not necessarily fully functioning. That aside, the real question for me is whether simply meeting together makes us the body. Are we a body because we meet together or because we work together?
We are the body when we have a common goal, submit ourselves to the accomplishment of those goals and work to those ends. That is the body…at least a more functional body.
Dave
July 11th, 2007 at 8:28 am
You said,
“We are the body when we have a common goal, submit ourselves to the accomplishments of those goals and work to those ends….”
This may be a little to idealistic for the ecclesia. As I attempt to reflect back upon all of the different “churches” described in scriptures, I tend to find that throughout history, mankind has ensued upon a much more combatative strategy of unionization of the saints.
I tend to see that the body is made up of healthy fingers, dying toes, severly bruised cheek bones, cleft palates, frizzy hair and a miriad of other conditions that make up the human experience.
While we certainly strive for a commonality in goal and submission, does history show us to wish for one thing but plan for another?
~D
July 11th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
“While we certainly strive for a commonality in goal and submission, does history show us to wish for one thing but plan for another?“
I am not sure how to respond. My gut reaction is that we plan for the body to be heathy. We plan for the body to come into alignment. We expect our plan to come true. That does not mean that it always does. It does not mean that everything works out the way we had planned. But it does mean that we have a standard by which to measure our progress and health.
Jesus says ““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21 NIV).
Lofty goals and high aspirations have never hurt anyone. Excuse the cliche, but it applies, “Better to shoot for the moon and miss than to aim for the ground and hit it”.
Dave
February 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I say, shoot for the moon.