Hurts
I did something stupid yesterday. I stepped wrong when coming out of a store and fell...well, not exactly face first, but it would have been had I not dropped my computer bag (the Mac's fine!) and put my hands out to stop my fall. Good move. Sort of. As soon as I got up, dusted myself off, and hurried to the car (hoping no one had seen me), I noticed my wrists were hurting. As the evening wore on, they hurt more and more and more. This morning, they're a little better...but apparently, taking the impact of the fall left them bruised and wounded.
It made me think again of one of Paul's favorite metaphors for the church, as the Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians, he talks a lot about that. One verse in particular, however, jumps out at me this morning: "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it" (12:26). We do pretty well in the church with the second part. We love to rejoice when things go well for people, for other brothers and sisters in Christ. We high five 'em, we mention them in the newsletter, we give them accolades for a job well done.
But what about the first part? Well, we do sometimes suffer with those we like, or those we know well, or those who are our friends. When they hurt, we offer support, we offer to pray for them, and we might even bring them a casserole. But what about other parts of the body of Christ? You might not like them. They may rub you the wrong way. You might even have "had words." Are you able to suffer with them as well? Paul doesn't qualify his statement. He doesn't say, "When a part we like suffers, we suffer with it." No, when one part suffers, when any one part is hurting...every part suffers with it. Do you suffer with those who are hurting in your church, in the larger Body?
I know from experience...just because only my wrists got hurt doesn't mean the rest of my body is fine. Everything is affected. Other parts have to compensate. Other parts hurt. Everything in my body rallies together to help get my wrists better. I wonder how often the same can be said of the body of Christ.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to give my wrists a rest...
It made me think again of one of Paul's favorite metaphors for the church, as the Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians, he talks a lot about that. One verse in particular, however, jumps out at me this morning: "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it" (12:26). We do pretty well in the church with the second part. We love to rejoice when things go well for people, for other brothers and sisters in Christ. We high five 'em, we mention them in the newsletter, we give them accolades for a job well done.
But what about the first part? Well, we do sometimes suffer with those we like, or those we know well, or those who are our friends. When they hurt, we offer support, we offer to pray for them, and we might even bring them a casserole. But what about other parts of the body of Christ? You might not like them. They may rub you the wrong way. You might even have "had words." Are you able to suffer with them as well? Paul doesn't qualify his statement. He doesn't say, "When a part we like suffers, we suffer with it." No, when one part suffers, when any one part is hurting...every part suffers with it. Do you suffer with those who are hurting in your church, in the larger Body?
I know from experience...just because only my wrists got hurt doesn't mean the rest of my body is fine. Everything is affected. Other parts have to compensate. Other parts hurt. Everything in my body rallies together to help get my wrists better. I wonder how often the same can be said of the body of Christ.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to give my wrists a rest...
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