September 2025

What does it mean to you to belong to the body of Christ? There’s at least one Scripture that lists out several different body parts and seems to give them a hierarchy. Feet are lower than hands (both literally and figuratively) while ears are lower than eyes. Though perhaps most importantly, it is the ears and feet that deem themselves less important, not the body.

Belonging to a group can be complicated. We often want to feel useful and purposeful. To contribute in some meaningful way to what is happening. There’s been a trend online recently of literary and film analysis that asks the question of “is the story the same if this character does not exist?” In short, does removing this person from the story create an irreparable plot hole or are they so pivotal that even suggesting to remove them completely destroys the story?

The incarnate Christ is the central figure in the gospel. Our lives, our faith, our belief is not the same without Christ. But you also need Judas, Mary, the gentile woman, and others for the gospel to be a complete telling of what it means to be in the body of Christ. Each of us has a call in our lives from God. Responding to that call helps us fulfill our vital and pivotal role in the grand scheme of what God imagines for our world. If we want to be a part of the kingdom, to live as the body of Christ, each of us will have some different things to do. What is God calling you to do? Where are you being led? It doesn’t have to be grandiose or immense to be meaningful and important.

-Rev. Beate

1 Corinthians 12:12-31