1 Corinthians 12:12

Along the canal, Shark Valley Visitor's Area, Everglades National Park, August 2013

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.
1 Corinthians 12:12

Paul says that the church is the body of Christ. We make it less so the more we desire to assign greater importance to some and less to others. The voices of children are of equal importance in the body of Christ, for example, yet the church is so much an adult world reflecting adult wants and wisdom.  Some might assign greater value to people based upon their years of membership or  the size of their donations or how influential their family may be perceived to be and in doing so make that body a caricature and do harm to the call to oneness. When we are willing to help "one of our own" yet cannot conceive of helping a stranger in the same way, does the church become more like the body of Christ or less?   Scripture challenges us to question received wisdom and seek instead to follow Jesus who prays that we may be one and he and the Father are one.