Indispensable Part of the Body

I was reading See Through Faith today, specifically a post entitled Companions. In it, Lorna is discussing a book called So Much More: An invitation to Christian Spirituality, and she lifted the following quote from it:

Those who are weaker or even embarrassing by the world’s standards ought to receive greater honour. Communities of Christians, in other words, should be the place where people can go to shed all the world’s status rankings. Children,women, racial minorities, homosexual men and women, poor people, unpopular people, people with awkward body shapes, people whose families have imploded, anyone who experiences the scorn of others – once they enter the church, they become an indispensable part of the body.

Wow. Go back and read that last line: “once they enter the church, they become an indispensable part of the body.”

We spend a lot of time talking about how we need to be an inclusive church. We talk about being welcoming – being open to people who are not like we are – not like the traditional members of our traditional church. We say this as members of the church, sitting on the inside, looking outside at “those people who are not like us.” And then we do our best to invite them in, trying to make them feel at home, as if the church were our house, and we are entertaining guests.

Once they enter the church, they become an indispensable part of the body.

Our Thursday evening service, Common Grounds, has developed and grown into something that I don’t think was in the original plan. It was meant as a service to attract the college age students from the university that is six blocks down the road. It has instead become a service which attracts the homeless and poorer members of our community. The meal is free; the worship is casual and non-threatening. We may be six blocks from the university, but we are one block from the City Mission. God has used this time on Thursday nights to bring his children into his church; children we were not reaching any other way.

Once they enter the church, they become an indispensable part of the body.

Indispensable. Not guests. Not people we tolerate (or avoid). A part of the body of Christ. Just as we are.

God is not our own little private, luxurious, delectable treat that we hand out in small, bite-sized pieces to those who are not members of our club. God is huge. We do not own “the church.” It is not a country club to which can choose to invite those who are less “desirable” as members and then feel generous. We are part of the body of Christ, and we are ALL indispensable members of it.

It’s uncomfortable. We don’t always fit together. Sometimes we would rather it be something else, but we aren’t given the luxury of defining church. God does that. And we should count ourselves lucky to be a part of it at all.