Scripture:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit... 

As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’  On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;  whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 20-27)

Reflection:

To think of the Church as a body with diverse limbs, everyone with their own function, but all working together as a whole, is a rich metaphor.

The Church becomes Christ’s body on Earth. Christ as the head, with the Church as his body, doing his work in the world, being his presence.

But what if your body is not so able? What if you can’t walk anywhere, your hands are weak and you are not able to assist anyone, not even yourself? What then?

I was especially struck by this verse: “On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable”. Being a part of the Body of Christ is not about your practical usefulness. It is about being a part of the whole, of belonging. And all belong, because all of us belong to Christ.

Revd Ylva