This Week: Somebody has to be the Heel! Our reading this week is Romans 12:4-5, a part of a letter sent to a new Christian church in Rome by the Apostle Paul.

Paul likes to think of the Church as many members in one body. He uses it again in a letter to the Christian church at Corinth in Greece:

The foot cannot be the hand; the ear cannot be the eye. (See I Corinthians 12:21-26) He concludes this part of the letter, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.”

The foot, the ear, the eye — these are desirable roles to play in the function of the body. Walking, our sense of smell, our eyesight — being these parts of the body is a big deal!

But the body also requires someone to be the heel — to bear the weight of the body.

Or to be the elbow — not often considered until it is broken.

Or to be the cells on the inside of the nose! To catch things we don’t need in our bodies — SO important, but not the first job anyone would sign up for!

But where would we be without the ones who do the unseen work of the Body of Christ? The ones who see a mess, and clean it up. The ones who continue a friendship with someone who is EGR (Extra Grace Required). The ones who do the food shopping, the chopping, the cooking, and the serving so we have meals to share? The ones who show up, week after week, to show compassion and share Jesus with children and youth.

Thanks be to God for the ones who take on these often unheralded jobs!

In celebration of what so many members do, living connected, we will sing this hymn on Sunday: We are Many Parts

In the name of the Rejoicing God, Pastor Bonnie