Mission Devotional Day 24
Just as the body is one and has many members
Mission Devotional Day 24
READ: I Corinthians 12
In this well-known chapter, the Apostle Paul uses the body as a metaphor for the church. I have to admit that in the past I usually applied this metaphor to particular congregations. It was natural to think about different church members and the gifts that they bring to the life of the body of Christ.
Increasingly though, I am thinking about the rich meaning this metaphor can carry when thinking about the church around the world. Certainly, it is the case that the different parts of the church in different places, cultures, and contexts add to the life of the body. Put another way, there are gifts that we need to receive just as there are gifts that we need to share in the global church.
I think of how we can learn from the church in India about what it means to sit at Jesus’ feet as our teacher, how we can learn about suffering from the churches facing persecution, how those who are poor can help us deal with the burden of our affluence and how churches that don’t have power can help us face our marginalization in our own society.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
In writing about the body, Paul states, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” How have you experienced this kind of solidarity in your congregation or the larger church?
Are your mission relationships an expression of mutuality? Are you and your partners both giving and receiving?
PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for the wonderful diversity of the church in the world, the global body of Christ. Help me to see the gifts that I have to share as well as the gifts that others can share with my church, in order that the church would be built up for your mission in the world. Amen.