One Body

Focus Statement

A God beginning does not erase our differences;

it joins us together so that every person belongs and every gift matters.

Point of Relation

Whenever I meet with a couple to plan their wedding,

1 Corinthians 13 often comes into conversation: “Love is patient; love is kind.”

For most couples, it sounds perfectly suited for two people preparing to marry.

I understand this, of course,

but I am cautious about using it

because Paul was not writing romantic advice for newlyweds.

If the couple ends up choosing the passage, I give them the beautiful verses—

but I also give them, their families, and their friends

a brief history lesson about what was actually happening in Corinth.

Paul was teaching a deeply divided congregation

how to remain together despite their differences.

For Paul, love is what keeps one member from saying, “I do not need you,”

and another from believing, “Because I am not like you, I do not belong.”

Friends, A God beginning does not erase our differences;

it joins us together so that every person belongs and every gift matters.

Things to Consider

Yet joining different people together is rarely simple.

We tend to confuse unity with similarity,

as though belonging depends upon sharing the same abilities, experiences, preferences, or perspectives.

When differences emerge, s

ome people decide, “I do not need you.”

Others look around and conclude, “Because I am not like you, I do not belong.”

One dismisses the gifts of others;

the other dismisses their own.

Both reveal the same tension

between difference and belonging.

What Scripture Says

That tension between difference and belonging

is precisely what Paul addresses in his letter to the Corinthians.

He is not writing to a church where everyone is getting along.

Quite the opposite.

The Corinthian church is divided by

status, spiritual pride,

competing loyalties, lawsuits,

abuses at Communion,

and even a man’s relationship with his father’s wife.

When Paul describes the church as one body,

he is speaking to a congregation that is falling apart.

Yet Paul does not tell them to eliminate their differences.

A body needs different parts precisely because no single part can do everything.

The foot does not stop belonging because it is not a hand,

and the eye cannot tell the hand, “I do not need you.”

Paul confronts both superiority and insecurity.

No member may dismiss another as unnecessary,

but neither may any member decide,

“Because I am not like you, I do not belong.”

Those who appear weaker are not merely permitted to remain;

Paul calls them indispensable.

Ephesians reinforces this truth.

There is one body and one Spirit,

but living as that body requires humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

God does not create unity by erasing difference.

God joins different people together

so that every person belongs and every gift matters.

What This Means for You

If Paul is right,

then you do not need to become like someone else to belong.

Your differences do not make you less necessary,

and another person’s differences do not make them expendable.

You have gifts the body needs,

but you also need the gifts God has given others.

That’s a two way street.

Belonging means refusing both lies:

“I do not need you” and

“Because I am not like you, I do not belong.”

Both are equally untrue in Christ’s body.

What This Means for Us

The same is true of our congregations.

Whether merging or remaining institutionally distinct,

none of our churches is the whole body,

and none exists only for itself.

We become one body when we stop asking which part will prevail

and begin asking what each part contributes to the life Christ is creating.

Amen? Amen.

Written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).