“One Body, Many Members.” August 14, 2016
╬ “One Body, One Lord of All!” The analogy of the people of God as a “body” – literally the “body of Christ” in the world today – is insightful in helping us to understand our interrelatedness. It celebrates the diversity of Spiritual gifts that are manifest in persons, and magnified in the people, as a whole. It lifts up individual talents and capacities even as it emphasizes the exponential power of these many members acting as one cohesive body. It is central to Jesus teaching on the nature of discipleship. It is underscores all of Paul’s teaching to Christian communities on how to live out their shared calling in Christ. Above all, it fulfills God’s mandate for unity, “the uniting of all things in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:9-10) It is enshrined in our American identity: “E Pluribus Unum” … from many, one!
