Saturday, June 27, 2009

1 Corinthians 12:12

This verse begs for community.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has this to say about it: "From this conviction that Christ himself is the community, there arises the idea of an organic life in the community in accordance with the will of Christ derived from the image of a bodily organism...Thus Christ is really present only in the community. The community is in him and he in the community...and 'to be in Christ' is the same as 'to be in community.'...The community is the body of Christ, but only under the gathering and unifying influence of the Holy Spirit."

If each community can be said to be the Body of Christ (just as each body itself is a part of the Body itself), which part of the Body is not getting the love and attention he or she deserves as a member?

If there are members of a community that feel left out or left behind, the whole community is going to function at a lesser level. Jesus is community, we've got to be Jesus to each other.

"Christ is the measure and standard for our conduct, and our conduct is that of a member of the body of Christ, that is, of one endowed with the strength of Christ's love, in which each of us can and will become Christ for one another..."

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