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"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. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. ... But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. ... The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor ... God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." (1 Corinthians 12:12-15, 18, 21-23a, 24b-27 ESV)
Sometimes on Sunday morning I like to just sit there and look around at all the different people who make up our bit of the body of Christ here in St. Louis. There's the man who videotapes our Vietnamese service, and the woman who makes tea and oversees the snacks at Bible study. Down the hall someone is teaching this year's batch of confirmands. Upstairs English worship is going on, with musicians, readers, a preacher, and the folks who serve as greeters and ushers. In the narthex someone is talking to a homeless man who came for help today.
Much less visible but just as important are the ones who set up the tables for coffee hour, for the sake of members who can't stand very long, like me. There are the people who run the food pantry, and the man who pulls together the bulletin and newsletter every week. I'm aware of several people who have no title at all, but they make it their job to watch out for other people who need help—those who are sick or having housing problems or who just need a ride to church or the grocery store.
Visible or invisible, these are the people Jesus has chosen to make up His body, the church, in this location. Why do they do what they do? Because of love—because Jesus has loved them, and laid down His life to save them and make them His own. And now that He has risen from the dead, His love lives in them, and His Spirit moves them to do what is needed by the church and by the community we serve.
It's beautiful. And you, as a member of the body of Christ, are part of it.
We Pray: Lord, show me what You have for me to do in Your body. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Originally published in The Lutheran Hour on January 22, 2025
Used by permission from International Lutheran Laymen’s League, all rights
Reflection Questions:
1. How easy is it for you to live without parts of your body?
2. What does this suggest about how Christ values you?
3. If your current role is severely limited, does that make you any less a valuable part of the body? Why or why not?
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