The appointed Epistle reading for today is taken from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Paul tells us that how everyone has their role to fulfill in the Church:
As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts,each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. (1 Cor. 12:12-26).
In the Church, some parts maybe big, others may be small, but each part is necessary if the body is to be whole. Working together with Christ as the head, the Body of Christ, the Church, can be a tangible presence of Jesus in the world reaching out to the hopeless, the forgotten, the marginalized and the unloved. The Body, each part working together, can transform the world making it more and more the Kingdom that God desires and will ultimately bring about.
Let us pray: O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that,as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity,and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
This Saturday, 24 March at 11a.m. in Sutton Hall—End of Life Issues.
Next Wednesday, the Joint Lenten Program continues at Grace.
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Cindi Clack and Mary Pearson.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts,each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy. (1 Cor. 12:12-26).
In the Church, some parts maybe big, others may be small, but each part is necessary if the body is to be whole. Working together with Christ as the head, the Body of Christ, the Church, can be a tangible presence of Jesus in the world reaching out to the hopeless, the forgotten, the marginalized and the unloved. The Body, each part working together, can transform the world making it more and more the Kingdom that God desires and will ultimately bring about.
Let us pray: O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that,as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity,and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
CALENDAR REMINDERS
This Saturday, 24 March at 11a.m. in Sutton Hall—End of Life Issues.
Next Wednesday, the Joint Lenten Program continues at Grace.
Please remember everyone on our Prayer List and especially Cindi Clack and Mary Pearson.
Your servant in Christ,
Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550
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