"Don't we take into ourselves the body, the very Life of Christ? ...our many-ness becomes one-ness - Christ doesn't become fragmented in us. Rather we become unified in Him. We don't reduce Christ to what we are; He raises us to what He is."
1 Corinthians 10:15 (The Message)
Ever since I was a kid the idea that the Church is supposed to be the Body of Christ, but yet seems forced to meet in 50 different places, has bothered me. In a bad rendition of Rodney King my heart has cried out, "Why can't we all just get along?" That question still haunts me. Why is it that The Body of Christ has become so fragmented? When did we make the choice to trade in our passion for The Kingdom for a less-wild alternative of growing our own?
Shortly before Paul gives his now famous metaphor of The Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12, he gives some instruction for the sacrament of The
Lord's Supper. He points out that we take in who Christ is & then go about ridding ourselves of that which hinders His image in us. "Our many-ness becomes one-ness". As His Body we must learn to reflect His image rather than our own. Paul adds, "We don't reduce Christ to what we are; He raises us to what He is."
This week, this month, today make an effort to defrag the Body of Christ. Be willing to look at those things we cling to as "essential"&"fundamental" to OUR faith, which might not be so essentially fundamental to THE faith. Attend another worship service of a truly Christian denomination other than the one you currently know. Make friends instead of enemies and let Christ make Himself at home in your body and in your Church, living out His Life in us all.
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