Aldersgate Experience 1
Connecting Knowing Loving Growing
September 2014
Experience
Everybody needs somebody. We don’t like to think that is true. We like to think we can do fine on our own, thank you very much! Scripture reminds us that, not only do we need one another, we are inescapably linked to one another. Consider these words from 1 Corinthians 12: “The body is a unit. Though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” We are all parts of the same body. The physical body cannot be separated and expected to function! We would never try that! In Romans 12:4-5 we hear, “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 who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others.” So not only can we not separate the parts, the members form a whole and each belongs to all the others. You are mine and I am yours; we belong to one another. Wow! What if we chose to really, truly live that way? What would our lives look like? Within our congregation, we have ministries devoted to the nurture and care of our members and the community. The people who serve in these ministries are keenly aware of the sense of belonging the scriptures above describe. Each of us has a particular gift or way to care for “the other person” who belongs to us. The Visitation Team is a group who goes out to lift spirits, pray, and regularly interact with those among us who are homebound and sick. Stephen Ministries is a group of well-trained lay ministers who are paired with persons who have a need for weekly, person-to-person care, whether that need comes out of the physical, emotional or spiritual. Our Nurture and Care group is filled with people to care for others who need a meal after surgery, who have recently had a new baby, those going through a divorce, people new to our congregation, and the list goes on and on. At some point, we all have a need. Christ reminds us that we belong to one another and, as such, we are to care for one another. If we belong to each other, don’t we want to care for those parts of the whole who are not well, who are not whole? When we are all connected, if one part is not well, doesn’t the whole body suffer? As you seek to live into Christ’s call on your life, I invite you to consider what it means to relate to others in a new way: you belong to them and they belong to you. The “others” around you are really part of you, part of the same body, bound together in Spirit by God’s love. We are not separate but parts of the same One. As Christians, it is part of our DNA to share in the caring for one another! We can live this out in our daily lives; even better, we can intentionally work with others who share our gifts and make an impact on those who are in need of care now. How will you share your gifts? What is your call? I hope you will take some time over the next few weeks to pray and discern in which part of the body of Christ and within Aldersgate you may best serve. You are requested to share what you have discerned through the Time and Talent Survey (online and paper copies available). Blessings to you during this month of September. May we live together as ones who truly belong to one another and know Jesus as Lord! Pastor Tara