November 11, 2011
Suffering and Rejoicing
Just as the church body is made up of many parts (1 Cor 12:12-27), so
it is with smaller bodies within the church. We have a group of ladies who for
many years have met weekly to sew and make quilts for the mission field and for
shut-ins. Recently these ladies suffered a loss when 89 year-old Bertha passed
away. “She was one of our parts…she did
the tying.” Certainly God has arranged the parts of the church body just as
He wanted them to be. “If one part
suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part
rejoices with it.” (1 Cor 12:26 NIV)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----In his book The Liberal Mind, The Psychological Causes of Political Madness, Dr. Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr. calls this “intersubjective reality.” He says that in order for a societal system to operate in a very healthy mutuality, the regards its members have for one another must go beyond mere sympathy. The people must understand that each individual has a mental and emotional system of relating to things just as real and full of important meaning as is their own, that each individual has as much right to those meanings as they do their own, and that each depends as much upon it for his orientation in life as they do their own. From that realization goes forth respect and sincere care for one another.
-----Fortunately, those who are the societal system of the church are those who humble themselves to learning who the Lord is and what His ways are. That does not make every individual identical in particular, but it does in general. In particular, people relate to the Lord and their surroundings according to the meanings that have been built into their individual lives. There is a lot of room for differences between them. And those differences fulfill the varieties of interests, abilities, and gifts necessary for all the Lord’s needs to be served. His needs always tie back into love for one another. And love for one another is the Biblical terminology for the same concept Dr. Rossiter calls intersubjective reality.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment