There was a time and a place where I was surrounded by those who by the very nature of who they were walked with me and I with them in similar understanding. There is a strength that was given unto me in that time within my journey ... where like attracted like and it was good..... iron sharpening iron... There was a place and time where sight was granted and ears were made attentive to that which can be heard and hearts were strengthened....
There was a place and a time where relationships were forged upon both good and bad terrains of life...... There was a place and a time where I could see how similar parts of the body come together and because they are fashioned into a bigger part operate jointly in a way that is mutually beneficial ..... Such as fingers are part of a hand and when fingers that joined to the hand operate more gets done with that hand because there are fingers attached to it.... there is a wrist and an arm and an elbow.... and when similar parts are together how that part operates makes more sense than when or if those parts were separate from one another...............
The hand is not the foot... fingers operate differently than toes.... I do not walk on my hands but I do not write with my toes..... my toes belong on my foot while my fingers belong to my hand....
Recently I sat in a conversation where within my experience of it I thought upon this subject .... If possible it was as if the body dissected and there was one part of it all.. one foot.. one hand.. one arm.. one eye... one ear.... journey with me for a moment as I try and express myself..... each part of the body was trying to express that which was their job.... and the other parts having never operated that job were trying to grasp that which that part believed and did.... to some parts ... well they could not fathom what it meant to be walked upon..... and other parts could not comprehend what it was like to physically take a hold of something .. such as when a hand grasps a pencil... Still other parts didn't know what it was like to be seen because they were hidden away within the body.... and those parts that were seen every day did not know of that hidden nature ...................
Within that experience I found myself longing to depart... growing weary of trying to express myself well and explain or even defend that which I knew to be true and operative aspects of my faith.... I wanted to segregate back to my portion of the body... let's say I was a finger.. I wanted to rejoin my hand and not try and understand that which the foot did... understanding that it did exist and knowing that in some way and form I needed it but that it was so other than me and so separate and so far apart that well... while we needed one another ... we could keep our distance... and that would be that..............
I was discouraged and saddened ... disheartened at first by the nature of the conversation and the confessions of it which had me feeling so utterly alone and so longing for a regrouping back to that which I knew and was comfortable in.... Within the body (not that I am medically aware at all and my understanding is elementary) there are systems... respiratory system, digestive system, circulatory system... etc.. etc... systems that work together to perform different tasks ... well.. I was missing my system ... I was missing the way things operate in my world... I just wanted the other parts to understand and believe that which I did and how necessary it was to the body operating as a whole unit....
I, in turn, wanted to appreciate and understand that which they did as well as value it but I was longing to be strengthened by commonality instead of being challenged.... If a part thinks that another part is dispensable and not necessary for the operation of the body as a whole ... than what does it mean to be that part within that community or conversation.....
Within those thoughts I found myself.... Remembering what it was like to belong to an operating system and to work within like parts........ Except....
We are one body and one part can't say to the other I don't need you... it is only out of ignorance not out of intelligence that we would do that to one another... it is only out of fear not out of love... it is only out of pride not of humility ... that one part would say to another I don't need you.... single parts come together to form larger ones... and those larger ones come together to form systems and systems come together and form one body.......... while the space between the head and the foot might be vast and the operations of each completely different one would get nowhere without the other........
Within this moment I thought upon the movie, The Lord of the Rings..... A fellowship is formed from many different "peoples," each having its strengths... its preferences.. its weaknesses... Each having its way of doing things .. its own culture... its own story.... I thought about how in different scenes we are given glimpses into the natures of one culture or one story and then how we are granted story lines that have them interacting with each other..... some think that another is strange or potentially dangerous to the peace they have created as when Gandolf enters into the Shire.... some understand things that others have never even ever heard about ... some have a long memory and lifetime while others only know of their current generation ............ and some have been altered by circumstances and objects and situations and burdens and relationships that are not known or experienced by others.....
Within minutes scene after scene played upon my mind and my heart and I thought about how one individual from each group was brought together to form an unlikely fellowship...... I thought about the quote, " What business does an elf, man, and a dwarf have in the Ridder-Mark? Speak quickly. " And I thought about a statement that would sound like this what business does an ear, a heart, a foot have in such in such a place? Or maybe it goes like this.... What business does a Baptist, a Charismatic, a Pentecostal, and a Methodist have in this place?
Yes... there are ears, eyes, feet, hands, hearts, kidneys, etc.... What business do we have together? Well it is our Father's business and we are the Body... one Body.... with operations and systems and strengths and weaknesses and it is necessary that we learn one from the other.... We are made strong when we are together.... we are made strong when we realize that many parts make up a whole and we need to walk wholly together... we need every part operating as it was made to do so.... There is a maturity ... a calling out to grow up into the fullness of that which we are called to become and as we do so we will let go of unnecessary and immature allegiances and grasp a hold of the truth that when we are united and when unity and love is that which characterizes us more than preferences we will shine forth a love so strong and palpable that its light will break forth like the dawn upon the darkest of nights and people will know the Church for who She truly is.... The Body and The Bride of a Lover... of a Savior... Of a King.... We are marked to be a people of love... and though there are many parts ... There is only one of us.... One Body.....
May we walk forth as such............
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