Parts is Parts.

I was very challenged by the worship service at church yesterday. We placed an emphasis on service, specifically because we are beginning the process of trying to fill positions for teaching and other areas of ministry for 2012. It seems crazy to think of that this soon, but that’s the way it goes.

However, the message about service is one that fits in any time of year, and is relevant to all who profess to be believers and followers of Jesus Christ. How can we say we truly love Jesus with all of our hearts, minds, and strength, and also say we love others as ourselves, and then not be there for them? It’s not just about a friend who needs a shoulder to cry on after a rough week. That is certainly part of self-sacrifice and love, but beyond that, and even at what I consider to be a very root issue, how can we continue to not even show up?

Too many times, I look out at empty chairs in our Student Ministry. I know, I should focus on the filled chairs, and I do. I love that there are students who are here no matter who else shows us. When we have a group of eight faithful, I give them as much as I would give a group of eighty. But what really breaks my heart is that the rest of our youth group does’t realize that when they don’t show up, they are letting down the eight students that are here. Those that come feel the burden of the missing students, and are forced to work harder to cover their own disappointment, then must put extra effort towards not harboring ill-will towards friends they thought they could count on. I realize there are always special circumstances, but unfortunately, many of the absentees don’t have good reasons.

Borrowing from the scriptures used on Sunday morning, (but really, don’t we all borrow from the scriptures always?) I see that 1 Corinthians reminds us that “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.” (1 Cor. 12:12) Paul doesn’t mix words here. He goes on in the chapter to use a bit of biting satire to point out that we are not all the same body parts, and we really don’t function properly without all of the parts. In today’s world of medical technology, some would argue that the body can still learn to function with parts missing. That’s not the point. The Body of Christ is created by God to be one Body with All of the parts working, and if some of those parts aren’t showing up, then they aren’t working properly.

Now, I am not the fingers of this body to point. I have been wrestling personally with some things that have caused me to wonder if I have fallen into the rut of just simply “showing up,” and not doing much else? A sprained ankle is still there, but because it isn’t functioning properly, other parts of the body must over-compensate and do extra work to pick up the weight of that useless ankle. I don’t want to be a sprained ankle. I don’t want to the a total “rear end,” either. I want to make sure that before I get up on soap box and quickly point out how many others need to step up and do their part, that I am doing my own part as well.

If each of us would remember that we are just one part of a whole, and work hard at fighting the selfishness that creeps in, we might do more to contribute to this body of Christ, and make sure it is as effective as God designed it to be. Learning to “make it” with the parts that show up is not nearly as exciting as taking the Body as a whole, and pushing it beyond the limits of this world and watching what God can do. Lets be the part that God intended, and move this Body forward. Now, where’s that spleen?