Speaking Of Life 4009 | Practicing Christ in the Kitchen
Welcome to this week’s episode, a special rerun from our Speaking of Life archive. We hope you find its timeless message as meaningful today as it was when it was first shared.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nki3BedCefQ
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4009 | Practicing Christ in the Kitchen
Greg Williams
In the summer of 1642, a young disabled veteran named Nicolas Herman took vows to join a religious community in Paris. He described himself as a “great awkward fellow who broke everything,” and was acutely aware of his humble, flawed stature.
He took the religious title Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, or Brother Lawrence as he’s widely known. He joined the monastery and was given a task to perform, and he did what he was asked. But he was soon seen to be a man of wisdom and he became sought by many visitors for spiritual counsel. Over time, even famous thinkers and powerful church leaders came to listen to him.
But they had to go to the kitchen to find him. Brother Lawrence washed the dishes.
This giant in the spiritual wisdom tradition, this sought-after guide in faith, was the cook who spent his days in the kitchen steam, among the pots and pans. And that was the key, he practiced the presence of Christ there in the smallest of tasks. Every plate he washed, every dish he prepared, he did so as if Jesus were right there with him.
One of his most famous quotes describes this:
“The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.”
Brother Lawrence washed dishes until his health no longer allowed it and then he became a sandal-maker. And that was his life; though he was one of the wisest of men at that time, he never left the kitchen or the workbench. Shortly after he died his letters were compiled into the enduring classic Practicing the Presence of Christ, and it’s been read and reread by millions of people.
Brother Lawrence’s story reminds us that God works through people we might never expect. And it helps us see how God uses every part of the body. As Paul wrote:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (ESV)
The body of Christ—interconnected, mutually supportive—needs every part to be whole. If this back kitchen cook had been ignored because of his humble position, we would have missed out on his message and edification for the whole body.
Brother Lawrence, like so many forgotten, “insignificant” people, turned out to be a light that shines through the centuries. May we continue to shine the light of Christ in whatever we are called or asked to do.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking Of Life 4009 | Practicing Christ in the Kitchen
Greg Williams
In the summer of 1642, a young disabled veteran named Nicolas Herman took vows to join a religious community in Paris. He described himself as a “great awkward fellow who broke everything,” and was acutely aware of his humble, flawed stature.
He took the religious title Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, or Brother Lawrence as he’s widely known. He joined the monastery and was given a task to perform, and he did what he was asked. But he was soon seen to be a man of wisdom and he became sought by many visitors for spiritual counsel. Over time, even famous thinkers and powerful church leaders came to listen to him.
But they had to go to the kitchen to find him. Brother Lawrence washed the dishes.
This giant in the spiritual wisdom tradition, this sought-after guide in faith, was the cook who spent his days in the kitchen steam, among the pots and pans. And that was the key, he practiced the presence of Christ there in the smallest of tasks. Every plate he washed, every dish he prepared, he did so as if Jesus were right there with him.
One of his most famous quotes describes this:
“The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.”
Brother Lawrence washed dishes until his health no longer allowed it and then he became a sandal-maker. And that was his life; though he was one of the wisest of men at that time, he never left the kitchen or the workbench. Shortly after he died his letters were compiled into the enduring classic Practicing the Presence of Christ, and it’s been read and reread by millions of people.
Brother Lawrence’s story reminds us that God works through people we might never expect. And it helps us see how God uses every part of the body. As Paul wrote:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (ESV)
The body of Christ—interconnected, mutually supportive—needs every part to be whole. If this back kitchen cook had been ignored because of his humble position, we would have missed out on his message and edification for the whole body.
Brother Lawrence, like so many forgotten, “insignificant” people, turned out to be a light that shines through the centuries. May we continue to shine the light of Christ in whatever we are called or asked to do.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 19:1-14 • Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 • 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a • Luke 4:14-21
This week’s theme is gathered together in Christ. In our call to worship Psalm, all of creation comes together to declare the glory of the Lord. In the Old Testament selection from Nehemiah, all the people gather together to hear God’s word read aloud. Our reading from 1 Corinthians makes use of the human body as a metaphor for the body of Christ consisting of many members. The Gospel text in Luke records Jesus teaching in the synagogue and proclaiming that “the year of the Lord’s favor” has been fulfilled.
Now You Are the Body of Christ
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 NIV
Today, for our third Sunday of the Epiphany season, we will continue in 1 Corinthians, picking up where we left off last week. As you may remember, last week Paul was addressing the church in Corinth on the issue of spiritual gifts. The Corinthian believers were using spiritual gifts, and especially the gift of speaking in tongues, as a measure of their spirituality. They were focused more on the gifts than on the giver of those gifts. Paul is trying to redirect their attention and correct their wrong-headed way of thinking concerning spiritual gifts. Today, he will continue that same theme by utilizing the human body as a metaphor for the body of Christ, the church.
Before we jump into the text, it will be a good reminder of the pervasive problem the Corinthian church was having that led to many of the issues Paul was having to address. It’s a problem that every church down through the centuries has had to wrestle with, and a problem that is especially damaging in our world today. That problem is the temptation for the church to take up the values and behaviors of the culture in which she finds herself. This was also an essential problem Israel had in her walk with God. Israel was called to be a light to the nations, however, time and time again Israel wanted to be like the nations around her. Israel repeatedly erected idols and other gods to worship along with many of the pagan practices that came with it.
If you read through the whole letter of 1 Corinthians, you will see how that underlying issue lies at the root of so many of the problems they were facing. Paul addresses each of these issues by reminding them of who Christ is and who they are in him. And that is essentially what he will do in this continued address to the brothers and sisters, and us today, concerning our belonging to Christ. At the core of this temptation to be like the culture around us lies some degree of lacking trust in Jesus. Sin at its root is simply not trusting in the Lord, and instead relying on ourselves in one way or another. It’s a rejection of grace in favor of self-determination, self-reliance, and self-actualization.
Keeping this in mind may help us see a particular danger lurking behind the issue being addressed in this passage — divisiveness. As we look around our culture today, we can’t help but see how much of our society and practice is built and fueled by division. This is certainly a tool of the evil one, and it manifests itself in so many subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Divide and conquer could easily be the motto of much of our world. We are tempted to be divided over just about anything. We are told we should choose one side over the other, with each side claiming they have the high ground. That’s how you gain control over people. You get them fighting each other and half the battle is won. We would be naïve to assume the evil one does not try to infiltrate the church with such a battle plan.
Paul seems to be aware of the danger lurking behind the Corinthian believer’s fixation on spiritual gifts, and he takes considerable time to address it. Perhaps we are not divided in our particular congregation over who has what gift. But the hideous and destructive weapon of division can raise its head in many different ways. So, as we read through Paul’s description of the body of Christ, may we let his words speak to our own petty differences and divisions that may have crept in unnoticed.
Let us begin.
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by 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. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NIV
Paul launches into a familiar metaphor that was often used to illustrate the social order of the time. Only Paul does not use it to reinforce some hierarchical understanding as it was often used to do. By using the metaphor of the body with many parts, Paul moves to emphasize that the church consists of diversity and unity. What he wants us to see here is that diversity feeds toward unity and unity leads to further diversity. In the body of Christ, both diversity and unity are essential. The Corinthian believers were emphasizing one spiritual gift, speaking in tongues, over other gifts. This led to the idea that everyone should pursue this one gift as it was now being used as an expression of spiritual status instead of a manifestation of the Spirit. They were not seeking unity but rather uniformity. Everyone having the same gift would be uniformity, not the type of unity Paul is talking about. Paul will use the analogy further to combat this mistaken understanding of the church.
How is “diversity” typically viewed in our culture today? It seems like there are two prevalent ways diversity is approached. We either seek to get rid of the diversity by seeking to downplay or erase all distinctions to the point that we are interchangeable and exactly the same, or we use the differences to divide and lord it over others. Neither approach belongs in the body of Christ. Our diversity serves the purpose of our unity. This makes sense when we think in terms of relationships. The distinctions are there to foster relationship. If we were all exactly the same, we would have nothing unique or distinct to share with the other that they don’t already have. Building relationship would be a challenge.
You can quickly see why these two approaches would be a serious threat to the church and her witness to the Lord who calls us into relationship with Him. That is also why distorting diversity is a prime tactic of the evil one in our world and in the church. He hates relationships, and he sets his sights on destroying it on every level. He wants nothing to do with a God whose very being as Father, Son, Spirit is a relationship. So, when diversity comes under attack either by way of diminishing the diversity or by way of using distinctions to create division, you have a pretty good idea what (who) the source is. And it’s definitely not the Holy Spirit.
Paul focuses the believer’s unity on the reality that they have all been given the Holy Spirit. Paul uses the two pairings of “Jews or Gentiles” and “slave or free” to hammer home this unity that we now have in Christ. These terms would express the two overarching distinctions in that culture that would separate or categorize people, essentially, race/religion/social status.
That doesn’t seem too far off the mark for our modern times. Paul is not saying that these distinctions are obliterated, but rather these distinctions no longer carry the significance for our identity as they once did. Our new identity is now children of the Father. In that new identity, we have a unity with one another in Christ that can never be erased. Our distinctions can be used to serve as a diversity that aids relationship in the church.
Paul will now carry the metaphor further to show some implications of this reality.
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. 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. 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? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12:15-20 NIV
In this portion, Paul is concerned with focusing on diversity. He continues with the metaphor to make his argument by pointing out the absurdity of not having diversity as it relates to a body. Within this argument, he also cautions against a self-speak that diminishes or denounces our identity in Christ on account of not being a specific part of the body. How often do we speak or think poorly of ourselves simply because we are not like so and so? This is good pastoral care for us to consider from Paul. Paul makes it plain that we are in no position to make such judgments on ourselves because of the “fact” that “God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.”
So, if we have a problem with our distinctions and gifts, we must take it up with God. When we downgrade our identity as a child of God because of how we measure ourselves using our distinctions, we are essentially telling God that we do not trust Him. We do not trust that He has properly “placed the parts in the body.” We believe he made a mistake.
Paul will now continue with his metaphor to address the other issue at hand — unity.
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!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 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, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 1 Corinthians 12:21-26 NIV
Paul cleverly uses the metaphor of the body to urge us not to see ourselves in a superior position over others. Notice how Paul chooses the “eye” denouncing the “hand” and the “head” denouncing the “feet.” It is the “higher” positioned body parts looking down on “lower” body parts and claiming that those parts are not needed. This certainly is correction for those who are seeing their own status or gifts as justification to dismiss and marginalize other members in their church. “God has put the body together,” and God is the one who gives honor. We should not dishonor any other part of the body but display equal concern.
With the analogy of a human body this point can be easily grasped. Is there any part of your body that you would be just fine to remove? Hopefully not. That’s how Paul wants us to think towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. No one is dispensable or interchangeable. All should be honored. This is the unity Paul has in mind. We see this on display in our churches when we “weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice” as Paul states it in Romans 12. How appropriate that most funerals and weddings take place in churches.
Paul now moves to wrap up His argument by leveling it directly at the Corinthian church.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 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. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 NIV
Paul now states definitively, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” In case the believers in Corinth missed it, Paul was now letting them know in no uncertain terms that the whole metaphor and its implications were meant for them. Today, it is meant for you and me. Paul is not putting forth a nice idea or positive platitude about getting along and accepting and affirming each other. No, He is stating fact: “you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” In that statement of reality, both unity and diversity are included. He makes another list of distinctive roles and gifts in the church to further make his point. No matter what part we have, it is God who gave us that part. We are called to trust Him in how He has arranged the body.
This section concludes with a series of rhetorical questions that reiterate Paul’s point that it is absurd for the body of Christ to be absent of diversity. But Paul is also transitioning to the next passage that sets everything about gifts on a whole new basis. There is some debate as to what Paul meant by saying “desire the greater gifts.” Paul may have intended to differentiate and recognize the impact of the gifts. Each gift is for the common good; however, the gifts of wisdom and knowledge mentioned first have more direct effect on edifying the entire body, whereas speaking in tongues may edify only a few. The Corinthians were asked to trust God in providing the most beneficial gifts for the entire community of believers. What will become clear is “the most excellent way” of love will not serve to replace gifts but will serve as the context of how we use them. But that will have to wait till next week.
As we conclude, may we take seriously Paul’s metaphor of the body. How might this metaphor help us reevaluate how we are trusting God with His placement of us and others in the body of Christ? Do we question His wisdom and love toward us when we measure our identity by the distinctive gift we bring to the body? Could this be a time to be reminded that God is faithful, and He has called and placed you in His body just as He sees fit and there is no dishonor in His placement? After all, “Now you are the body of Christ.”
Cullen Rodgers-Gates—Year C Epiphany 3
January 26, 2025 — Third Sunday after Epiphany
1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
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Program Transcript
Cullen Rodgers-Gates—Year C Epiphany 3
Anthony: Let’s pivot to our final passage of the month. It’s 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a. It is the Revised Common Lectionary passage for the third Sunday after Epiphany on January 26. Cullen will be our reader.
Cullen:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work powerful deeds? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Anthony: You said earlier that our Christian faith is personal, but it’s never private. It’s not individualized, and this passage points out again and again, the communal nature of Scripture, of the body, that we belong to one another, and we need one another.
And Cullen, for the sake of time, I want to ask you one question, and I’d really like for it to be personal. I’m looking directly at verse 26. And it uncovers the unity and the empathy found in the body of Christ. When one suffers, the body suffers when one rejoices, the congregation rejoices. So, here’s what I’d like to ask you.
Have you personally experienced this shared reality in the body? And if so, what impact did it have on your life?
Cullen: Yeah, thanks Anthony. I think one of the more recent things that’s happened I mentioned this at the top about my adoption. But for 44 years, I knew nothing about my biological family.
And we don’t have time for the whole story, but a little over two years ago with almost without any warning, I was reunited with my biological mother. And it has been an overwhelmingly beautiful experience. And we’ve just shared so much, my adoptive family has, I’ve been able to share with them, of course, my wife and my kids and other extended family.
We’ve celebrated in this, but one of the thing that I wanted to mention here in responding to your question is I had no idea how much this experience that for me is obviously extremely personal in nature would bless other people and particularly people more broadly, but particularly people in my own church here in Durham who, when I’ve had the opportunity to share the story with them, they’ve been — number one, I have felt in a very deep way their joy with me. And it’s been a different kind of experience than when you accomplish something and people praise you or people say, “Oh, that’s great to hear,” that kind of thing. Like with this reality when people are excited for me, it’s something very different.
I am experiencing people entering into my joy in a way where what was before very personal just to me has now become, somehow by God’s grace, personal to them. And people have shared with me how the story that I’ve experienced with finding my birth mother has strengthened their faith.
It’s increased their joy. It has reminded them of God’s faithfulness in a new and fresh way. These are things that I just — it’s so far beyond what I would have expected. And I’ve been so humbled by how God can use story, our own stories and our own experiences, again, that are personal, but how He can extend the blessing of those and the impact of those to others in a way that really impacts their lives, and you just can’t fabricate, that is purely God’s grace and the Holy Spirit at work.
And that seeing the way that my story has impacted others by God’s grace has then basically what it’s done for me is it’s reinforced and deepened my faith in a miracle-working God and my faith in a God and not only my faith, but now I’m more, I think, I’m in a position where I’m expecting to see God work like that more because I’ve seen how He’s done this with this particular part of my story.
Anthony: It’s so beautiful. Your faith feeds my faith. Your joy feeds my joy. We need each other. We belong to one another. And I so appreciate you sharing your story. I was remembering, I think it was Maya Angelou that talked about the saddest — and I’m loosely paraphrasing — one of the saddest things in humanity is having an untold story within, a story that the world needs to know, but it’s not been shared.
And I’m so grateful for your willingness to share it. And so, we come to passages like we’ve read together and talked about together here today, God has chosen us, not only does it tell us about our place in God, but it tells us about God, that He’s a choosing God. And as someone who’s been adopted, I can only imagine that on some level, you know something about the chosenness of God, of an adoptive family. They wanted you; they chose you. That tells us something about the universal nature of who God is, that He is a choosing God. And He’s chosen us for His joy and holiness and to belong to His body. He is so good.
And I’m so grateful for you, Cullen, in the way that you have articulated this glorious good news. It’s good news, not good news, if or plus. It’s just good news! And may we be bold to declare it and demonstrate it to the people that we encounter. You’re a beloved child of God, thank you for joining with us here today. It’s been such a great time having this conversation, and I pray that it blesses many.
And I want to thank our team of people because it does take a team. We belong to one another. Thank you to Michelle Hartman and Ruel Enerio and Elizabeth Mullins for the parts that they play by bringing to bear the gifts that the Spirit has given to them as an act of grace to make this podcast possible.
And as is tradition on Gospel Reverb, we’d like to end with prayer. And so, Cullen, I’d be grateful if you’d send us out in that word of prayer.
Cullen: Yes, thank you.
Heavenly Father, You are a choosing God. And what an amazing truth that is, that You destined us for adoption as children through Christ, according to Your good pleasure, to the praise of Your glorious grace that You freely bestowed on us in the beloved.
And as we reflected today, that is exactly the name that You spoke over Your Son, Jesus, when as fully human and fully God, He went down into the water and came back up in baptism and received the word from You that He was and is Your beloved. And we are also Your beloved because we are in Him. Lord, what a glorious truth.
Thank you for the ways in which Your Spirit is at work, the ways that You are equipping the body and the members of the body in distinct and personal ways. Thank You for the opportunity that we have to lean into our identity as a body and to learn from and to benefit from one another’s gifts. Help us, Lord, make us more faithful to recognize those gifts in one another and to seek one another out as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Lord, we praise You for this time and for Your word for the richness of it. Lord, would You help us to go forth more deeply rooted in Your joy more confident in what You have done in Christ and more expectant Lord of what You will continue to do through the power of the Spirit. And we pray all of this with joy and thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Program Transcript
Cullen Rodgers-Gates—Year C Epiphany 3
Anthony: Let’s pivot to our final passage of the month. It’s 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a. It is the Revised Common Lectionary passage for the third Sunday after Epiphany on January 26. Cullen will be our reader.
Cullen:
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. 28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work powerful deeds? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
Anthony: You said earlier that our Christian faith is personal, but it’s never private. It’s not individualized, and this passage points out again and again, the communal nature of Scripture, of the body, that we belong to one another, and we need one another.
And Cullen, for the sake of time, I want to ask you one question, and I’d really like for it to be personal. I’m looking directly at verse 26. And it uncovers the unity and the empathy found in the body of Christ. When one suffers, the body suffers when one rejoices, the congregation rejoices. So, here’s what I’d like to ask you.
Have you personally experienced this shared reality in the body? And if so, what impact did it have on your life?
Cullen: Yeah, thanks Anthony. I think one of the more recent things that’s happened I mentioned this at the top about my adoption. But for 44 years, I knew nothing about my biological family.
And we don’t have time for the whole story, but a little over two years ago with almost without any warning, I was reunited with my biological mother. And it has been an overwhelmingly beautiful experience. And we’ve just shared so much, my adoptive family has, I’ve been able to share with them, of course, my wife and my kids and other extended family.
We’ve celebrated in this, but one of the thing that I wanted to mention here in responding to your question is I had no idea how much this experience that for me is obviously extremely personal in nature would bless other people and particularly people more broadly, but particularly people in my own church here in Durham who, when I’ve had the opportunity to share the story with them, they’ve been — number one, I have felt in a very deep way their joy with me. And it’s been a different kind of experience than when you accomplish something and people praise you or people say, “Oh, that’s great to hear,” that kind of thing. Like with this reality when people are excited for me, it’s something very different.
I am experiencing people entering into my joy in a way where what was before very personal just to me has now become, somehow by God’s grace, personal to them. And people have shared with me how the story that I’ve experienced with finding my birth mother has strengthened their faith.
It’s increased their joy. It has reminded them of God’s faithfulness in a new and fresh way. These are things that I just — it’s so far beyond what I would have expected. And I’ve been so humbled by how God can use story, our own stories and our own experiences, again, that are personal, but how He can extend the blessing of those and the impact of those to others in a way that really impacts their lives, and you just can’t fabricate, that is purely God’s grace and the Holy Spirit at work.
And that seeing the way that my story has impacted others by God’s grace has then basically what it’s done for me is it’s reinforced and deepened my faith in a miracle-working God and my faith in a God and not only my faith, but now I’m more, I think, I’m in a position where I’m expecting to see God work like that more because I’ve seen how He’s done this with this particular part of my story.
Anthony: It’s so beautiful. Your faith feeds my faith. Your joy feeds my joy. We need each other. We belong to one another. And I so appreciate you sharing your story. I was remembering, I think it was Maya Angelou that talked about the saddest — and I’m loosely paraphrasing — one of the saddest things in humanity is having an untold story within, a story that the world needs to know, but it’s not been shared.
And I’m so grateful for your willingness to share it. And so, we come to passages like we’ve read together and talked about together here today, God has chosen us, not only does it tell us about our place in God, but it tells us about God, that He’s a choosing God. And as someone who’s been adopted, I can only imagine that on some level, you know something about the chosenness of God, of an adoptive family. They wanted you; they chose you. That tells us something about the universal nature of who God is, that He is a choosing God. And He’s chosen us for His joy and holiness and to belong to His body. He is so good.
And I’m so grateful for you, Cullen, in the way that you have articulated this glorious good news. It’s good news, not good news, if or plus. It’s just good news! And may we be bold to declare it and demonstrate it to the people that we encounter. You’re a beloved child of God, thank you for joining with us here today. It’s been such a great time having this conversation, and I pray that it blesses many.
And I want to thank our team of people because it does take a team. We belong to one another. Thank you to Michelle Hartman and Ruel Enerio and Elizabeth Mullins for the parts that they play by bringing to bear the gifts that the Spirit has given to them as an act of grace to make this podcast possible.
And as is tradition on Gospel Reverb, we’d like to end with prayer. And so, Cullen, I’d be grateful if you’d send us out in that word of prayer.
Cullen: Yes, thank you.
Heavenly Father, You are a choosing God. And what an amazing truth that is, that You destined us for adoption as children through Christ, according to Your good pleasure, to the praise of Your glorious grace that You freely bestowed on us in the beloved.
And as we reflected today, that is exactly the name that You spoke over Your Son, Jesus, when as fully human and fully God, He went down into the water and came back up in baptism and received the word from You that He was and is Your beloved. And we are also Your beloved because we are in Him. Lord, what a glorious truth.
Thank you for the ways in which Your Spirit is at work, the ways that You are equipping the body and the members of the body in distinct and personal ways. Thank You for the opportunity that we have to lean into our identity as a body and to learn from and to benefit from one another’s gifts. Help us, Lord, make us more faithful to recognize those gifts in one another and to seek one another out as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Lord, we praise You for this time and for Your word for the richness of it. Lord, would You help us to go forth more deeply rooted in Your joy more confident in what You have done in Christ and more expectant Lord of what You will continue to do through the power of the Spirit. And we pray all of this with joy and thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- What are some examples of division that you see in our culture and society?
- Have you seen this culture of divisiveness slip into the church? How so?
- Discuss how Paul’s metaphor of the body helps us hold together both unity and diversity.
- Does trusting in the Father help us honor each one’s distinctive place in the body of Christ?
