As we grow older, some of our body parts begin to work less well or even fail completely. Eyes, ears and the various joints of hips, knees and back come to mind most readily. When this happens, the body does not die, yet its function and completeness is diminished. The same is true if a part of the body is amputated. At first the nerves give a phantom feeling that the part is still there, there is pain at the loss both mental and physical, and then there is resignation that the part is gone, never coming back and the body must make due without it.
We, each one of you who are in Christ, regular attendee or not, each one of you is a part of the body of Christ of which He is the Head. Each one of you is important to the proper functioning of the body and if you are absent either by choice or illness or whatever, the entire body suffers. Read 1 Corinthians 12:12ff.
We are all one body, we need one another, we need to care for one another and not neglect the various parts of the body. I have that fungus stuff in my two large toe nails. I can either try and ignore it and hope it goes away, and it won’t, or I can take care of it and treat it and bring them back to good health. This analogy is not given so that we might think of those who are not here as some sort of toe fungus. The point is, we either take care of all of the body parts or all the parts of the body suffer.
It would be beyond wonderful if all the members of Prince of Peace came to the Lord’s house every Lord’s day to receive from Jesus all that sustains and keeps each member of the body in perfect and eternal health. May we all pray to that end that the Lord of the Church, Christ Jesus our Head and Savior, would draw us together in love, harmony and charity to receive the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life. None of us deserve such lavish gifts from God but we all need them.
May He who has made each one of us a new creation in Him by the washing of water and the Word, may He continue to unite us together in Him and sustain us all into eternity. God does not amputate members from His body but rather He nourishes and revives them all that His Body would always be perfect and complete. The Lord bless and keep you all by His mercy and grace, healthy, safe and secure in Him. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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