the opportunity we share...

we were talking today in one of my classes about what it means for humans to be created in the image of God. classically, the Old Testament affirms that even after sin, humans still bear the image of God. people are told not to murder because that is taking the life of someone who was made in the image of God. in the New Testament, excluding a passage in James and one in 1 Corinthians, the image of God is found in Christ. and as we grow in maturity in our faith and our intimacy with Christ, we become more like him. the image of God grows in us. we are still taught in James and 1 Corinthians that all humans deserve dignity and respect because they were created in God's image. i dont really want to take an overlong time in discussing the theology behind it, but i think it can be summed up by saying that part of our job as the church is to help people rediscover their image.

one of the great opportunities we share is to start over. we can create our own community, set our own priorities and show people who they were created to be. this, i believe, should be one of the main priorities of the church, this is a key to evangelism. people are searching for identity, what makes them special, what sets them apart. as Christians, we believe God made each special, each unique, each with a wonderful and beautiful identity in his own image. as we work together to form this community, we must keep in mind that our fellow workers and those that exist outside of the church were made in God's image. we also must help share this wonderful message with the world. here is my question. what does this mean practically? how does this theology take shape in our lives and in the life of our church?

gifts

"12-13You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

14-18I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

19-24But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?"

1 Corinthians 12:12-24 (The Message)

one of the things i would like us to think through together is our giftings. i am not advocating a cookie cutter spiritual gifts test so that some of us can then wonder what "prophecy" means or whatever. i am suggesting we are honest and open with one another about what we think some of our strengths are and some of our weaknesses. i feel like i am gifted with leadership, but also cursed with stubbornness, for example. it will be important that we are open and honest with one another. i really feel like i could go through and list out many of your strengths because i know you all pretty well, unless someone that i dont know just came and started reading, but that would take away a part of it. it is important that we realize our own strengths and how we can fit in to help this body grow and work. we will not all be gifted in the same ways, hopefully, because otherwise we would all just stubbornly argue a lot.

so, hopefully this will elicit some response. what do you think you are gifted in? do not feel like this is bragging, it is ok to be honest with what you are good at, especially if you are honest enough to know you are not good at everything. i feel like, as i said before, i am gifted with leadership, and vision. i think i can help others to discover their respective place in Christ's body as well. what are you bringing with you? and please, no false humility. i know each of you well enough to know that each of you is very gifted in quite a few areas. (hopefully this goes better than the last one)