|
|
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion March 29, 2008 Christian Community as The Body of Christ |
A daily |
Frontline Devotion for Saturday, March 29, 2008 by Gary Shaffer
"If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one
part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy.
Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body."
1 Corinthians 12:26, 27
I read a story once that I remember quite vividly. It was quite similar to the true story a friend of my shared with me many years ago following his sojourn through Europe. A trip, on which he backpacked, hitched, walked and worked his way through Europe for several months. The two stories, one fiction, one not, both centered on events where one person got very sick in a very public place, in a very humiliating way. And in both stories a stranger steps out of the crowd of passersby to bring much needed help and comfort. Helping the stranger. Cleaning their vomit and their excrement from clothes, from their bodies, from the floor. Humbly serving, truly caring. Offering comfort. Offering much needed help at a time when another person was desperate for life restoring aid. And in both stories, my friend's, the fiction, the people who were helped, though overwhelmingly grateful kept asking, repeatedly, "Why? Why did you help me? Why? So many others..." did not stop, looked away, kept walking, very carefully focused their eyes elsewhere, so they did not see. "Why did you help me."
The answer, so simple, yet not acceptable, "You needed help. I was there." My friend, the stranger in the other story, found the simple answer unacceptable. Their question continued, "Why?" The answer repeated, "You needed help. I was there." Neither could accept it because each realized that though he had been graciously helped by a stranger's kindness, if the situation had been reversed, he would not have helped. He would not have stopped, would have looked away, made certain that his gaze was focused elsewhere, would have made sure not to see the need of the stranger.
I am very fond of and my spirit always enriched by the "one body with many parts" teaching in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians that today's verses are taken from. And I am very concerned that the church today, Christ's Body, grows weak because so much teaching and preaching has turned the gospel into self help and self improvement lessons in which spiritual growth focuses entirely on the individual and not the community. The truth of the matter is that the gifts that God gives to each of us are given for the benefit of the community and not simply the individual. The body has many parts, all important, all needed. The call of Christ is a call to serve. It is not an inward focused individual relationship with God. We are called to communion, to community, to be part of the body. "A body isn't really a body, unless there is more than one part. It takes many parts to make a single body." 1 Corinthians 12: 19-20. The gifts given to each of us have been given for the benefit of others. To serve the Body. This is most certainly true.
"But why? Why did you help me?" "You were hurting and needed help, how could I not help you."
Lord Jesus, give me the compassion and the courage to be part of your body. Amen.
|
All are welcome to join and share in our Devotional Ministry on the "Frontlines" of the world. Frontline Devotions are sent via email daily. Sign up by clicking on the box to the left. Pastor Dave welcomes feedback. Contact him at pastordave@goodshepherdonline.org. |
Visit the |
|||||||||||
