The Church, the Body of Christ

Opening Prayer: Good morning Lord! Thank you for all the ways in which you have wonderfully made me. What an amazing me you have created. Through my ability to read I can travel through time and around the universe. I can create music that soothes the spirit, art that tantalizes the sight, and food that excites the palate and my sense of smell. When I meditate on your word, my spirits are lifted, I become centered, and peace returns to quiet my anxieties and fears. What a wonderful gift. Thank you. Amen.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-14

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well.

Meditation: The scripture above is wonderful in that it recognizes the Creator God through one of his many wonderful works, the human body. I am often amazed at how interconnected and interdependent the human body is. If I have a cold and can’t smell, my sense of taste is also affected. The human body is amazingly strong and amazingly weak. Paper can cause a cut that is as painful as a cut from a knife made of metal. We are exposed to hundreds of thousands of germs on a daily basis, but most of us regularly avoid contracting the flu, a cold, or something worse. If the toe is injured, the pain is felt not just in the toe, but in the foot, leg, the back, and even the shoulders. It is not surprising that Paul used the metaphor of a human body when describing the church, the body of Christ.

Like the human body, the Church, the body of Christ was created by God, not by humans. It is wonderfully made. God is so interconnected throughout this creation that thoughts are perceived. When the Church is lying down or going out, God is there. God is familiar with all of the ways of his creation the body of Christ, the church. What might be the result of us recognizing our home congregation through this Psalm? Perhaps we would be more conscious that our congregation as the body of Christ was knit together long before we became participants and with proper stewardship has the potential to last long after. Maybe we might be conscious of God’s unique connection to Brunswick and see God’s working behind us and in front of us. I encourage you to imagine what our church might look like if it was seen as  God’s creation and not a creation of human ingenuity. Wow, I think of how limitless our potential could be.

If we saw our home church, the congregation as a creation of God we might look at each with amazement at God’s work, seeing each person as fearfully and wonderfully made. Maybe we could see God’s presence working around, in, and through each person. In recognizing our interconnectedness, we might learn how to laugh with another or how to cry with one another. Celebrating our interdependence, we might lift together asking fingers to work together to grasp and involve the wrist and arm to complete the action. My challenge to you today is as you ponder the words of Psalm 139, in this time of isolation from the gathered Brunswick family, that you seek out ways to reflect your membership as part of God’s creation, the church, the body of Christ.

Closing Prayer: Lord, it is difficult to be separated by so much distance. Help me to use this time wisely. Grant me the courage to move beyond my comfort level to be the body of Christ to someone this week. Reassure me in my loneliness and isolation that I am a part of a wonderfully and fearfully made body. Remind me that there is no place I can go that you aren’t with me. Exercise my mind, body, and spirit so that I become limber enough to thrive through this season so that when the next season comes, I am ready, willing, and able. In your holy name, I pray, Amen.

Talk to you again soon,

Pastor Yolanda