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.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
There are few more compelling and evocative metaphors in scripture than the church as the Body of Christ. It is a clear message that while we are each gifted individuals, it is only in combination that we become the church God needs us to be. We do not stand alone, and no one of us is more important than all of us together. In this day of global pandemic, the metaphor has even more power and impact, because we are painfully aware of what a virus can do to a healthy body.
Paul goes on in the twenty-sixth verse of this Corinthian passage to teach that “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it…” We are experiencing this in stark ways, watching families, communities, nations, and countries mourn the loss of so many lives, and the ongoing suffering of hundreds of thousands. People of faith are making profound sacrifices of individual freedom to protect others and guard the health of others. In recent memory there have been few challenges that remind us we are one greater than this we currently face.
God makes us one. What we do for and to the least of God’s people we do to Jesus Christ. As we care for one another, we care for Christ. Each and every personal sacrifice we make is an outward and visible sign of our love and regard for Jesus.
Wondrous and uniting God help us to care for every person as we care about the Christ. Make us willing to endure minor sacrifices and daily inconveniences that others may benefit. Grant us patience and peace as we await the day we can join together again in public places. We ask this humbly in Jesus’ name. Amen.