Scott's N-Cites

Who's Right?

I'm reading "God's Politics: Why the Right is Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It." Great book. Very challenging. I'm also reading the blogs of others and am convinced that many times I have spoken with great conviction and zeal about subjects of which I had very little knowlege. That reminds me of a poem my friend Bob Versteeg introduced me to several years ago. Whether it's religion or politics, the moral of this story is certainly applicable:

John Godfrey Saxe's ( 1816-1887) version of the famous Indian legend:

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined, who went to see the Elephant(though all of them were blind), that each by observation might satisfy his mind.
The First approach'd the elephant, and happening to fall against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:"God bless me! but the elephant is very like a wall!"
The Second, feeling of the tusk, cried, -"Ho! what have we here so very round and smooth and sharp? To me 'tis mighty clear, this wonder of an elephant is very like a spear!"
The Third approach'd the animal, and happening to take the squirming trunk within his hands, thus boldly up and spake:"I see," -quoth he- "the elephant is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out an eager hand, and felt about the knee: "What most this wondrous beast is like is mighty plain," -quoth he,-"'Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree!"
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, said- "E'en the blindest man can tell what this resembles most; deny the fact who can, this marvel of an elephant is very like a fan!"
The Sixth no sooner had begun about the beast to grope, then, seizing on the swinging tail that fell within his scope,"I see," -quoth he,- "the elephant is very like a rope!"
And so these men of Indostan disputed loud and long, each in his own opinion exceeding stiff and strong, though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!
MORAL:
So, oft in theologic wars the disputants rail on in utter ignorance of what each other mean, and prate about an Elephant not one of them has seen!

One of the great things about my experiences this summer is that I've had the opportunity to see many expressions of the body of Christ - Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Assemblies of God, Brethren, Church of Christ, and of course organic church. Each of our views is like one of these blind men and I'm excited to be learning more and more about the multi-faceted beauty called the Church.

I think we have yet to see the fullest expression of the Body of Christ. Therefore...

1Co 12:7ff from The Message
Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!
The variety is wonderful: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues.
All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.
You 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.
I 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.
But 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? The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
You are Christ's body--that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything.
You're familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his "body": apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, helpers, organizers, those who pray in tongues. But it's obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It's not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker,
not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called "important" parts. But now I want to lay out a far better way for you... - 1 Corinthians 13...

1Co 14:1 Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it--because it does. Give yourselves to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim his truth.

posted by Scott @ 9:16 PM