Body Parts

Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. … I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. – 1 Corinthians 12:12 & 14 (MSG) 

Your body, your church, your community, has many parts. And I want you to think about how all this makes you less significant, not more. 

Yes, the standard interpretation of the body-of-Christ-with-many-parts metaphor is that all people are needed and all gifts are valued. We need every gift and each person to make this church thing work.  

This is all true. But it has led some of us to conclude that we’re indispensable. If we’re a foot, for example, a beautiful head of hair will get us nowhere. If we’re a collective, each of us has a critical part to play.  

Yes, but perhaps not all the time.  

When our eyes can’t see, our ears increase their sensitivity. When an ankle is sprained, we devise workarounds. A toothache rarely incapacitates; the body manages to carry on.  

And so it is with the body of Christ. If you, in your role, have a scheduling conflict or need a break, trust that the other parts of the body (read: people) will step up and fill in. Someone may discover a gift they didn’t know they had. Other body parts will get stronger.  

I recently skipped a major church event so I could do something else very important to me. The event succeeded without me, the world went on, and I returned refreshed and even more grateful for the amazing people I do church with.  

Prayer
Body-building God, thank you for every person and the part they play, and for each person who works harder when another rests.

About the Author
Vicki Kemper is the Pastor of First Congregational, UCC, in Amherst, Massachusetts, and a spiritual director.