The Body Does Not Consist of One Member but of Many.

The Epistle reading for the Daily Prayer of the Church continues from where we left off yesterday, and it carries the same theme, sameness is not equality:

 

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.

 

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of 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 arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.  (1 Cor. 12:12-26).

 

The inspired Word of God spoken through Paul is this: “the body does not consist of one member but of many.”  Diversity, different viewpoints, is the key; sameness is not.  Strength comes from diversity, not uniformity.  If everyone were the same, there would be no spice in life.  Paul knew this well.  The body is composed of many members, many parts, each serving its own function.  God save us from collective sameness.

 

Let us pray: Gracious God and Father, we are your creation.  Some of us are male and others female, some are black and other white, some are short and others tall, some thin and others plump, some blond and other red headed and some with no hair at all, some are physically strong and others weak.  Each of us in an integral part of Your world.  Give us the grace to appreciate the other as a reflection of You since we are made in Your likeness and image, and give us the grace to respect each other in our differences.  Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

The funeral service for Ernest Lemons, Jr. will be Saturday, 17 October at 11 AM, at E.L. Johnson Funeral Home in Galveston.

 

The Art Show is going on this week in Sutton Hall.  Please come and see the wonderful art work, each as unique as its creator.

 

Adult Christian Education: Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis at 11 AM on Sundays.

 

The Seaside Seniors will meet on the third Thursday of this month, 15 October at 11 AM, and the theme will be All Hallows Eve.

 

All Hallows’ Eve children’s party on Friday, 30 October in Sutton Hall from 6 PM to 9 PM.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550