A couple days ago, two of my boys tied themselves together. They used a piece of rope and several belts. They tied their arms, legs, and middle together so that they were side-by side (picture the old “three legged raced.”) They stayed like this for about an hour and a half.
They fell a lot. They laughed a lot. Surprisingly, they didn’t get mad at each other much.
Watching them, I thought this was an interesting experiment and an interesting picture for the Church. We are “tied together.” Baptized by One Spirit into the One Body of Christ–we’re in this together. Each part doing it’s work for the benefit of one another. Sometimes we fall down in the process, because we are still learning to work together and because we are naturally clumsy. How great would it be if we singly laughed every time we “fell down” together. This could also be a good image for married couples!
I am thankful for the Spirit of Christ in our midst at OSL. We do get along quite well. But it’s always good to keep these types of things in mind and to remember not to take ourselves too seriously, to have ample grace for one another, even as Christ showers such grace on us moment by moment.