One Body

“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 the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-13

Our first two services of Holy Communion were held yesterday. I had been yearning to receive the Sacrament and to see people, but I did not know how powerful the experience would be. At both services, I stood to welcome the people. At both services, I was momentarily too overcome with emotion to speak. There were people! Right there in the pews, looking back at me!

St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians proclaim that we are all connected, one body with many members. This is not a metaphor. We are the Body of Christ made manifest in this world. We are differently gifted, differently called, but each a vital member of the Body.

Yesterday, the Body of Christ gathered at Grace to feast upon the Body of Christ. You are what you eat! In feasting upon the meal of grace, the Body of Christ makes us the Body of Christ. Fed, freed, forgiven.

And then we are sent.

The world is in desperate need of the Body of Christ. The bodies of our siblings of color are too often treated as disposable. This must not be. There is one Body; no one should be cast off as if they didn’t matter.

I hope you’ll join us at Grace for a service of Holy Communion. In the meantime, remember that we are all connected, even while we are apart. We are all connected, even when the world would seek to divide us. We are connected, because God has knit us together in Christ.

Be well, friends. You are loved.

Lord God, we thank you for meeting our hunger with your abundance. We rejoice in the gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation conveyed in the Sacrament. Help us to know the real presence of the risen Christ who is with us at all times, knitting us together as one. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Image: Grace, prepared for celebrating the Sacrament. The minister presides at the altar in the chancel, while another altar in the nave holds elements for worshippers to receive.