Body of Christ

So I was listening to the radio for the first time in forever today, and there was this song that came on that caught my attention. (And no, it wasn't country!) I don't know who sings it or what it's called, but it was interesting. It talked about all the bitterness, anger, pride, hate, sadness and pain in the world. And there was one part where they asked the question, "Will we ever have a day where no one is dying?" I thought about that for a while. It's actually pretty depressing to think about that for too long, because you begin to realize even more so just how broken, hurt and bleeding this world is. How desperate they are for real Love. We are called to be the body of Christ, and reach out to this world. Not just by giving money to missions so that someone else can do the work, not simply by donating food or clothes either. That's all great, but that's also not all. We are called to be the body of Christ. His hands. His arms. His feet. His love, in a very real way. We can't expect to stop the bleeding in this world without getting personally involved, without getting dirty. I'm not saying it's easy. It's not. And we're most likely going to have our hearts broken in the process. Many times. "To love is to be vulnerable." (C.S. Lewis) But is it worth it? Yes.

Over the past few months I've been able to experience people becoming the literal body of Christ and reaching out to me. I've been able to build a relationship with someone who has been where I have been. Who has dealt with and been through the deep depression and despair that I have been through. They came to my side, and helped me out of where I was. They got dirty in my problems. They didn't just stand there, looking down upon me, telling me that I should "read the bible more" or "pray more" and then things would be okay. They didn't tell me that it was my fault for what I am going through, and that I'm the reason things happened the way they did. No. They came beside me and helped me through. They showed me that there really is good in this world. They showed me that life is worth living. They showed me God's love in a way that I had never seen or experienced it before.

"...we are called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding."

"There is no normal life that is free from pain. I'm proud of you for the times you wrestled with your problems and discovered how much that it helped you grow." (Fred Rogers)

I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all."
~Richard Wright 1977

"It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms."
~Jamie