Big C Church: One Hurting Part

When I was younger, I always thought "church" was just the building I traveled to on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. I thought "church" was what made me good. As God has revealed himself to me over the past couple of years in ways I would have never imagined, I have gained new insight on what "church" is.

There's a big C church and a little c church. Little c church is the church you call your home. For me, growing up, that would have been the small Lutheran church across town, in high school the mega church in town, and now, a growing church located in a movie theater. I think little c churches are important, but I think God focuses on big C Church. Big C Church is the Body of Christ. Big C Church is all of God's children from all over the world. Big C Church spans all the way from the cornfields of Illinois, all the way to the bustling streets across the world in China. How exciting is it that when we accept Jesus as our Savior, we become part of the body that is the body of believers, the family of God, big C church.

 A wise friend friend of mine puts it like this:

"Being a part of the body of Christ requires you to interact with other parts of the body, people who may look different than you, have different passions, different talents, yet the same Spirit and the blood of Christ coursing through their veins." - Elise Ashenfelter

 How cool is that? We are all so different, yet one in Christ. For we are His body. We all have different functions, different ways in which we serve the world and share the Good News of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul goes into further detail discussing the Body of Christ:

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. (v. 12-13 NLT)

As believers, we have become one in Christ, despite our differences. We are parts of one big body, the Big C Church.

How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." (V. 19-21 NLT)

I love that. We cannot look at one another and say "I don't need you, for you are different." How do you expect the Body to function if it were only a foot. How would it see? How would it taste? Hear? We all need one another. This brings me to my recent revelation I've had while thinking about the Big C Church, the Body, and how our bodies work.

I have been hurt by members of the Church, parts of the Body. Bitterness owned my heart for a few months as I worked through the thoughts of "how could the Church do this to me?" Often times my prayer would be "God, how could Your own people do this to me?" I understand that we are imperfect people and we will hurt one another, however, I also have thought about the fact that when one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. 

There's a couple of different ways you can look at this.

Think about a time you had a tooth ache. Or maybe a back ache, shin splints, or a sore muscle. Your whole body seems to hurt just because of that one injury or pain, right? It seems to be all you can think about when you move. When one part of the Body is hurting, it affects the rest of the Body. It slows down the rest of the Church.

Here's what I found interesting. As a runner, I know all about pain. Shin pain, foot pain, calf pain, and everybody knows about the dreaded butt pain. Tight bun muscles makes for a difficult run. I remember being a running camp once and learning the importance on form. If one part of our form is off, it can throw off and actually injure other parts of our body. So here is what I was thinking about. Let's say a person has a shin splint on one leg. They run through it, being stubborn as most runners and people in general are. There form becomes off and they begin to limp as the pain increases. Because they are limping and have changed their running form, it is likely they may injure another part of the body. Perhaps the knee of the other leg, for they are probably running heavier on that leg. 

If one part of the Body of Christ is hurting, the Church will start hurting and will affect other parts of the Body. 

This is why I think it is important to remember how important and fragile people are. We are called to be Jesus to hurting people. Often times I think we assume that means people outside of Christ. But I think we often neglect the hurting people in our Church! I don't think Jesus neglected his own Body, so why would we neglect ours? Why wouldn't we take care of the Body around us? Now, by no means am I saying don't love on those outside of the Church. We are called to GO and make disciples, sharing the Good News as we go. But I do believe that with a crippled Body, other parts will begin hurting and the Church will not be as effective in ministering to those outside of the Body of Christ.

When one part hurts, the whole Church hurts. When one part remains untreated, other parts will become affected and may become hurt as well. 

This being said: May we never forget the Good News that Jesus Saves. God is bigger than our hurts and God is a God of restoration. There is nothing to far broken, no Part too badly injured for God to heal, mend, and restore.