"To the extent one of us is diminished, we are all diminished"

I can't claim the title of my blog as an original thought; it is actually the tagline of our local family services organization. I had the privilege of attending a fundraiser lunch for their organization this week and was reminded of their tagline again. 

It's been rolling around in my head this week, particularly because I've been reading 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about how there is one body, but many parts. I always find Paul's writing on this topic so frank and easy to understand. We all know how the body works. We all know as he says, "If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?" We all know the body could not function as perfectly as it does if it were just one part. 

Isn't that so true about the body of Christ too? I love how Paul goes on to talk about the spiritual gifts and how many different ones there are. Those are part of the body too. We could not all be teachers or miracle workers. We do not all have the gift of healing. But how good it is that some of our members do! 

I know that our family services organization is not a "Christian" organization. I do know that their executive director is and she is wonderful. So whether their tagline stems from a Christian worldview I don't know, but I do know that often in the secular world we run into things that do stem from the Word even if they aren't specifically meant to. I know that family services does so much good in our community for those who may otherwise fall through the cracks, get lost, and be abused. They are a vital part of the body. 

I am finding more and more that I must confront the pride that creeps into the body (and I'm speaking here of my own body, but also the larger body of Christ). This passage speaks so clearly to that thought: 

"But God combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." 

Wow. 

There is so much room for pride to come in there. There is so much room for us as humans to pull ahead and clutch our successes to our chests and not take part in the honoring or the suffering of others. 

We know in a perfect world the above passage would work. This would run so smoothly and the body would perform like Michael Phelps'. Perfectly. We would feel the sting of rejection when a child is left fatherless. We would feel the suffering of a young mother who has nowhere to turn and nothing left to hold. We would rejoice when someone graduates from college or gets married or whatever. 

But we don't live in a perfect world and no one else does either. And that's where I get stuck. How do we join in the suffering of the entire body? That seems so daunting when we consider how much suffering goes on. How do we understand better the suffering that Jesus endured and become more like him? 

I know these are questions I will wrestle with for life. I know my own pride of somehow thinking I am better than others will be something I will wrestle with for life. I also know that I do have an opportunity to make sure those around me and those I come in contact with are not diminished. I know I couldn't live without my fingers, toes, eyes, ears.............