January 23

            It seems as if the things that dominate our culture today, whether it’s in the news or on social media, are things that highlight the differences between us. It could be liberal-conservative, black-white, male-female, gay-straight, or just about anything else you can think of. Differences are an integral part of our lives – it would be a very boring world if we were all the same – but if we use these differences as excuses to build walls of exclusion instead of bridges of understanding, we cannot establish any kind of meaningful relationship with others.

            It is human nature to people to divide themselves into units such as families or tribes, and all the rest who don’t fit into their group as some “other,” but God calls us to more than that. God wants us to be united as one body in Christ. He wants us to celebrate both the diversity in the natural world and the unity we have, not only with each other, but with the Creation. We are all part of the body and part of the world.

            Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” He later goes on to say (paraphrasing) that just because one part of the body is not like any of the others, it has no part of the body. It doesn’t work that way. We all have our parts to play as both an individual and as a member of the Body. May we never forget this lesson that Christ, through Paul, has taught us.