At the Sunday service the Worship Leader duties were shared by Nancy Wooldridge and Lee Leatherwood. They both do a good job.
Laura Leatherwood taught the children’s lesson and she brought a sack of shoes to church! Laura said different shoes had different uses. Running shoes were to run in, flip flops were good at the beach or swimming pool and heavy boots could be worn for hiking or mountain climbing. Shoes have different purposes and people have different purposes. We each have a purpose in church to do God’s work.
Rev. Ken Lunsford preached about 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. He titled his lesson “Body of Christ, Many Members!”
Pastor Ken told us about a Japanese process of repairing precious ceramic ware. It is a restoration process called “Kintsugi” that seeks to make broken ceramics better than new. The object is first repaired, and then the repair line of the break is outlined with a lacquer that contains real gold. The final piece has gold lines and streaks across the surface; it has not been just restored but transformed.
Saint Paul is dealing with the Corinthian Christians as they are trying to build up a church, a living body of Christ community. The Corinthians were concerned with things like who is best and what spiritual gift is the greatest. Paul uses the metaphor of the body and its parts to explain that in the new body of Christ who is best has no importance; all the parts are necessary and must work together.
Paul also urged the Corinthians and all Christians to notice that the most broken within their community were the ones who could bear the marks of healing they had experienced at God’s hands. The more damaged and repaired, the greater was the transformation reflected to the world.
The healing life-altering power of the Holy Spirit at baptism, of participating in the body of Christ, takes all our blemishes and sculpts them into beauty marks. All of us bruised and battered people have broken places where the true power of the Spirit is released through the gold of grace.
If you have a prayer request call the office at 254-445-2157 or email us at fumcdublin@embarqmail.com