One of the Apostle Paul’s favorite images for the church is that we function as the body of Christ. That is, while we have different tasks and different gifts, we are meant to work together as one being, which, of course, implies that, within any congregation, you need to have a fair amount of diversity.

It’s a powerful image that rings true for us primarily because we recognize that, within our own physical bodies, there is an amazing diversity. Our liver functions differently than our lungs, for example, and none of us would want either of them suddenly swapping jobs. If our colon were trying to behave like our collarbone, or our ears like our elbows, we would be in a good deal of trouble (not to mention a great deal of pain).

We even have parts of our bodies that most of us don’t know the names of, but thankfully, they don’t ever go on strike for being under appreciated. They just keep on doing whatever it is they do to keep us alive. The bottom line is that we count on our individual parts operating independently, while, at the same time, working together. And we are quite content to live with such diversity, if for no other reason than we wouldn’t live long without it!

It’s when you apply this truth to the church that we start having problems. Apparently, we are able to handle internal variety much better than external variety. Frankly, a lot of us become a little uncomfortable when we run into people who look at the world differently than we do and express viewpoints that challenge our deeply cherished beliefs. Most conflicts in the church develop because the brains want everybody to act like brains, and the hearts wants everybody to act like hearts, and there is always a hangnail or two who brings out the hangnail in everyone else!

But I think it’s important to keep in mind that Paul never uses the image of the body as an analogy. He does not say, “You are like the body of Christ.” He says, “You are the body of Christ.” In other words, for Paul the question is not “Do you want to be a part of Christ’s body?” That question has been rendered irrelevant, because whether we want to or not, we already are his body here on earth. A more appropriate question would be “Are we ready to start acting like Christ’s body?”

Simply put, we are wasting our time whenever we get involved in these lengthy arguments of who should be in or out of the church. It’s Christ’s body—and thus he decides! After all, it was never the disciples’ idea to establish the church. They didn’t come together the way like-minded people who share similar interests come together to form a club. Nor did they come together the way people with a common passion come together to lobby for a particular cause. They came together because Jesus called them to come together.

It’s Christ who chose us … Christ who connects us … Christ who consecrates us. He is the one who makes us the holy, catholic church!