Growing as the Household of God
The fullness of an embodied Christ
A few weekends ago, when preparing for my sister-in-law’s baby shower, I set Addie up with a real-deal sharp knife and a quart of strawberries. “Cut these into quarters, and fill up that bowl,” I told her.
Her eyes got big. “I get to use the big knife?!”
“Yupp! We need your help!” I told her.
For the rest of the day, she told anyone who would listen that she cut up the whole bowl of strawberries, no help needed.
Sometimes I forget what happens when we let our kids actually help. The joy and esteem that comes with feeling needed, integral. If I’m honest, much of the time, sharing the load with a child feels like too much work.
I know when I’m stressed or pressed for time, it seems easier to not involve my kids in any essential home tasks. Teaching them— trusting them— feels like it takes time that I don’t have. But I see how we all suffer when I don’t share the load of our lives with them. They’re hungry to be needed, not just wanted. To be appreciated, not just loved. To see the gifts they have to offer our home and our family as essential.
I’m very aware of the ways I could screw my kids up by asking too much of them. But more and more, I’m seeing the ways I could be hurting them by not asking enough.
I’m so grateful that in His perfect love, God does not feel the same way about me. He lets me bring the humble gifts he has given to me, my meager offering, my “bowl of strawberries,” to be used for the good of this covenant family.
What Addie experienced, and what I’ve known to be true in my own life, is the truth that Paul illuminates in his first letter to the church in Corinth:
“If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:17-20).
There is one body, but many parts, and much is lost if one part of the body is missing. Because the church isn’t just a body, but Christ himself embodied.
Without each member of this body working in obedience to God’s perfect placement, we miss out on the fullness of an embodied Christ.
In this way, we depend on each other. We need each other. And we can be blessed by this knowledge that we cannot do this alone, and we miss out when we try. As someone who has survived much of my adult life without the benefit of a gallbladder, believe me when I say, no body part is superfluous.
For some of us, this might feel like an admonishment to do more, to wonder what integrated membership looks like for you in this body. To discover what aspect of Christ we’re missing out on without you.
For others, this may feel like a not-so-subtle reminder to ask for help, to invite others into the work. Because like Addie with the strawberries, it might seem easier to just do the work yourself, but it’s not better. We can get so focused on the most pressing needs and seemingly endless to-do lists, that we miss opportunities to invite everyone into the work of the church. We forget to tell each parishioner things like…
You’re important. We need you. We might be able to do this without you, but we wouldn’t want to.
A family thrives when each member offers up his or her gifts, skills, and time. There are abundant blessings in both the giving and the receiving. And those are the multifold blessings we uncover as we grow as the household of God.
As we prepare for a new Church of the Lamb volunteer cycle to kick-off in July, would you examine what gifts, skills, and time you have to offer this Lamb family?
Would you take a moment to read what needs we have and consider how you could help fill those needs?
Would you take some time to wonder if you’ve been waiting to be invited into this meaningful work of being a church, or if, alternatively, you’ve been doing too much?
The mission at the heart of this church family is that we learn to abide as disciples of Christ: invited to rest, compelled to love.
How is the Lord calling you deeper into his kingdom rest this year? How is he asking you to use the gifts he placed within you to love his people and embody his son Christ Jesus? What are we missing, if you’re not helping us embody Christ more fully this year?
If you’re interesting in finding a role that helps you offer your gifts to this body, click the button below to explore our volunteer needs.
P.S. When you’ve got a family as large as ours, sometimes you need a good system to keep the house in order. This July, we’ll be transitioning our volunteer management from Breeze to Planning Center. When we started using Breeze, we were awaiting a platform update that would allow for Sunday morning music planning and volunteer management, which has yet to materialize. In order to simplify volunteering and have the stability of all volunteers managed on the same system, we’ll use Planning Center from here on out. We’ll do our best to make this transition as painless as possible for all involved!