A member who had been absent for a while, attended worship. Upon seeing this, I smiled and thought “the body of Christ is now more complete.”
It won’t surprise you to learn that I am a Protestant. I have become aware of this in a new way. Our Catholic friends, in partnership with the Chapel, have recently placed a tabernacle in Memorial Chapel. This is a beautifully crafted piece which contains consecrated bread, which for Catholics is mysteriously and truly the body of Christ. Catholics will now have the opportunity to visit the tabernacle in Memorial Chapel to reverence the Blessed Sacrament. I appreciate and honor the sacrament of communion, but do so in a way different than Catholics. Further, there is another body of Christ upon which I place great value. The people of God, you, are the body of Christ.
Whether I am sitting in the back of the sanctuary or the front, when I see the faithful gathered for worship, I see the body of Christ. We are a diverse, imperfect, motley crew that God has claimed as God’s own. And we are part of a much larger body that spans both the globe and the centuries, called to live our lives in faithfulness to Jesus Christ. We follow our calling imperfectly, and yet still, we are united in Christ, one body. When our worship service concludes and we scatter across the Triangle, we are still the body of Christ, still connected to one another, still following our Lord and Savior.
The people who are the body of Christ make me smile, especially when one more person connects or reconnects with this body because it makes us more complete.
May the peace of Christ be with you.
Carol