Stained Glass Fragments
Like these pieces of stained glass, we are all different shapes, different sizes, different colors. We have different giftings, different talents, different abilities, different strengths, different weaknesses, and different callings. Do this differences affect our value? When we hear someone sing a beautiful song, play a beautiful piece of music on guitar, throw or catch an amazing pass, hit a homerun, or set some new record, do we see them as more valuable than ourselves or others?
In Corinthians 12, the Bible speaks to the differences in the body of Christ:
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[d]? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
That sliver of stain glass at the top of this post on first glance doesn't seem to have great value. It's just a random collection of different colored glass fragments, but it's a part of a much bigger picture.
It's a small slice of the very center of this stained glass window. Much like that slice, we are all apart of the body of Christ. Each one with different talents, strengths, and giftings. Apart, they may not seem to have great value, but when we come together - like the image above - we become a beautiful tapestry of the body of Christ created in His image with eternal value and beauty.
I challenge you to pause and take a moment to view the other believers around you as integral and valuable works of God and strive to find how you can work together to glorify the Father - despite our differences of tradition, doctrine, sacraments, liturgy, and practices. Let's work together to be a light in a dark place.
