"We Belong" - 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

1 Corinthians 12:12 - 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.

Choosing to be a Christian calls us into communal life marked by shared sacrifice for the good of everyone.  Paul spoke about this necessity when he used the metaphor for believers as being united in single body by the Spirit.  Rather than rugged individuals with calls unrelated to one another, God has created us to need each other and recognize that the needs of my neighbor are mine as well.  In our time, the individual's wants and desires are held up as paramount, creating a world that tramples the weak and poor, refuses to wear a mask to protect the sick, abandons the elderly when they can no longer produce and the pandemic has shone a light on the results of these attitudes.  This Sunday, let us find encouragement to live differently where the needs of the many are important, where the vulnerable concerns are the same as the most powerful, and where we can find community that calls out the best in ourselves.

 Peace, Pastor Shannon Smith