“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-6)
Hello Vine,
I once had a traumatic run-in with a Milkdud.
While at the movies with friends, I bought a box of my (once) favorite candy. After biting into the “Chewy. Not Gooey” goodness yet again, this rogue nugget made me work extra hard to separate my bite. When I did, a pre-adolescent (but not previously wiggly) molar went along with it. That was my last Milk Dud.
I will spare you the remaining details, but I remember the shocking feeling that something I had relied on – an integral part of me up to that point – was now gone. I did not know this was the way of things, and a new tooth would soon sprout forth. In a non-trivial way, I felt the shock of being dis-membered. A part of my body that should be there isn’t any more.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, his purpose was to heal a painful dis-membering and re-membering within Rome’s Christian community. Jewish Christians had been kicked out of Rome along with other Jewish people after a 1st century riot. The remaining gentile-Christians blossomed in their cultural expression of following Jesus. When the Jewish Christians were allowed to return, painful divisions and disagreements ensued.
Paul responds by sewing this church back together through a familiar analogy: the body and its many parts, or “members” which are not meant to exist on their own. Like our physical bodies, the body of Christ (and its local expressions) functions in health when its parts work together as they are designed to. In the face of a dividing church, we in our modern context might assume Paul should downplay this life-or-death inter-connectivity – ie. “Don’t worry, it’s mostly about you and Jesus anyways!” or “That’s fine, we’ll have the Jewish denomination and the gentile denomination.” Instead, he reminds them (and us) to remember that we are “members, belong[ing] to one another.”
This is my strange way to invite you to a Membership Gathering on March 29th, a gathering for those curious about membership, or already planning on becoming members at The Vine. (RSVP to come; fill out our Membership Form if you’d like to become a member).
Whoever you are and whatever you believe, all of what we offer is open to you — you’re welcome to do life with us to the full! Becoming a member at The Vine is making a promise to support the healthy functioning of this local expression of Christ’s “body.”
- How do we seek “grow[ing] to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ?” (Ephesians 4)
- How do we avoid unnecessary and painful dis-membering?
- How do we support one another when the pressures of this world (or Milk Duds) are great?
- What does it actually look like to “Fear Not, Love All!” as our mission statement claims?
Come on March 29th to discuss, and to discern if God is leading you to re-member here with us at The Vine.
God’s peace on your home,
Rev. Michael+