Body of Christ!

I spent some of this weekend working on my talk for the Walk to Emmaus . I've been asked to do the Body of Christ, which I think I can speak pretty good on. Maybe the better way to say that is that God can use me for that talk. Anyway, one of the things that came up for me while I was writing the paper was that everyone has their part to do. It's a well oiled body, if you will. Some folks are good at leading classes, some at working with kids. You've got the Pastor, who brings the interpretation of the Word to the people and the trustees that take care of the building. As long as everyone stays within the lines that have been somehow predetermined, by someone that might already be dead, no one get's hurt. I always like to know where these lines are and how ingrained they are in the "system". It's a lot more fun then to mess with the people that live by the lines drawn in the sand. For me, a little of that happened this weekend when Preacher man got to preach.


We are doing this church wide study called Becoming a Contagious Christian, and it's a mild thing to say that most of the church hates it. They hate it so much, that they are refusing to do it in their Sunday school classes anymore. The jest of this study is to teach you how to give your "story". I'll leave it up to you why the church doesn't want to do it, but I have to say just one word...COMFORT ZONE. OK that's 2 words.


Anyway, Preacher man preached on telling your story. He told about Paul in Acts telling his story and gave detail about how to tell a good story. Then midway through his sermon, he called for a witness! Freaked out most of the people. Unknown to them, Preacher man had Bobby waiting in the wings, ready to give his witness, his story. It went great! People were giving Preacher man feed back and hugging Bobby. Stuff like this just isn't done, so it caused a little stir.


What blew my mind was a few of the comments that Preacher man got that really show how far we have to go to get the Body of Christ working in the right direction. I will just say, for Preacher man, he's about making disciples for Christ. He's about building others up, teaching them the how to's, you know, shepherding and teaching! He doesn't mind sharing the spotlight, cuz it's not about him in the first place, it's about God! 


I was proud that he asked Bobby to tell his story and tickled that Bobby jumped on the idea. As the Body of Christ, we are called to work together as a team. Sometimes I lead, sometimes you do, but we work together for the glory of God! We can't all be the eye's or the feet, and we shouldn't try to be. One lesson that I learned the hard way a few years ago is that you can't be THE body of Christ either. You need others to help you be your part of the body, so they can be their part.