The Body, Building
From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph 4:16 NIV)
Holy Week is a wonderful time for reflecting on the life, death, and glory of Jesus. We remember God's mercy and grace, His wisdom and power, His trustworthiness and His goodness. We read about it, discuss it, sing of it, and we do all this together: "the whole body... every supporting ligament... each part."
Although I certainly do a lot of the work for preparing the services of Holy Week--Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--and I enjoy that work, I am not the only one who works hard to make these services a "growing and building" experience for our church.
A few people deserve special gratitude for their significant contributions:
Jenecia Griffiths and Christine Schwichtenberg in particular did a lot to both help me review the services and improve them, and also to actually do the services so well. Thank you, ladies, for your hard work and excellence in helping hold together and build up this church-body in love.
Bryan Schwichtenberg's counsel and advice has been an accumulating gift of wisdom in the design of these services. His leadership behind the scenes (and not behind the scenes!) on Sunday morning helped create the illusion that everything was going just fine. Thank you, Bryan, for your Christlike leadership.
Many others also made meaningful contributions to the efforts this weekend.
(Note: I actually typed up everyone's name who was involved in this weekend's activities. It was over half of the membership!
And then, when I considered honoring, in some cases, the spouses who free them up to serve, and then those who regularly serve but simply weren't on the rotation this weekend, and then those who don't have a regular role in designated service, but who's mere presence indicates meaningful effort, for which we are grateful... well, it's just about every member!
In other words, if you'd like to see who all makes a meaningful contribution to the life of Fellowship Bible Church, pull out your pictorial directory and praise the LORD.
[Which is what Paul is describing in Ephesians 4:16, isn't it?])
I am so thankful for this church. By which I mean, you.
Now, look at this verse again:
From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Eph 4:16 NIV)
Please observe a few points:
1) This verse is true. Without "every supporting ligament... each part doing its work" this local-Body of Christ-church cannot be what God is calling us to be. Notice all the things, just in this verse, that depend on "every supporting ligament": being joined together, held together, support, growth, building up, a culture of love. A church is not, and cannot be, just the pastor or paid staff or leadership team. A church is the membership, and friends, woven together in mutual support, upbuilding, and growth.
2) Since this verse is true, then it suggests that if any Christian feels like they could use these blessings—connection, strength, support, growth, encouragement, or love—then they ought to increase their attachment to, and involvement in, the church. It is through our mutual attachment to each other that, in God's mysterious wisdom and power, we experience these features of Christ's life. Through “each part working” we all together experience this help in ways we otherwise wouldn’t.
I love this church. I think it's a great church. I know you love our church too.
But—hang onto your hats!—I also know that our church is not “perfect." We have… room to continue to "grow and be built up."
For that reason, my prayer, from Ephesians 4:16, is this:
Father, would You please strengthen and protect our attachment to each other at this church. Help "every supporting ligament" to take the next step of growth and encouragement.
We want this church-body to grow. We want the message of Jesus to be louder and clearer because of us. We want this church to continue to be the loving, grace-filled, place we enjoy now, even while we also pray that more of our friends and neighbors who need You come to join us. For all these things and more, Lord, we need You.
Christ, You are our head. From You comes all the good we desire. Supply to Your body, we pray, all things that we need for doing Your will, in this place, at this time. We trust You in this, and in all things, for Your goodness, love, and power are beyond dispute. We love You, Lord. Amen.
Photo by Eric Prouzet on Unsplash