1 corinthians 12:27-31

"[27] All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it. [28] Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

first are apostles,
second are prophets,
third are teachers,
then those who do miracles,
those who have the gift of healing,
those who can help others,
those who have the gift of leadership,
those who speak in unknown languages.

[29] Are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we all have the power to do miracles? [30] Do we all have the gift of healing? Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? Of course not! [31] So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts."

-[1 corinthians 12:27-31]

i have never been much for denominational differences. don't get me wrong, i am constantly gaining a love for the Christian tradition and the many different ways we, as a Body, have found to worship our Creator, but the damage done by the divisions will eventually outweigh the good.

i love hymns, a gift from the liturgical churches, i think it's so amazing to be able to sing the same words to the same tune that Christians for hundreds of years have sung; i also love 'contemporary' praise songs, a pretty recent gift from the mainline church, i think the energy and excitment conveyable through them is unmatched by hymns because people who sing hymns sing like they're bored. i also love gospel choir music ('nuff said!).
i love to take notes when i hear the preacher get up and start to speak, a mostly white church thing, it helps me focus and learn better; i also love it when i can't pick up a pen because i am enthralled by the passion of the speaker and the interest of the congregation, an event typical in the black church.
i love to see the Spirit move visibly, as in a pentacostal church; and love to see people quiety contemplating God, as typical of most other churches.

the problem is, we are so opposed to accepting the gifts other denominations have to offer into our own congregations and these gifts stay centralized and polarized.

i used to attend a charismatic youth group on wednesday nights in high school. i went because the worship was amazing (my 'main church' was united methodist, but i couldn't tell you half of the theological differences). everyone in that room was seeking God, and you could feel it. there were many times when people were driven to their knees, arms stretched in worship, or down right 'slain in the Spirit' to use some insider jargon (knocked down by the powerful presence of God's Holy Spirit). most nights, someone would speak in tounges. i longed for this spiritual gift, because it was so cool to me. i felt as though i was really missing out on something big. the church there preached a separate baptism in the Holy Spirit to receive such gifts (from the text in acts 2) (now, i believe that we receive the Holy Spirit when we believe in Christ, it's a package deal, and so is the baptism ("...in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...") ala galatians 3), so one night i went to meet with someone from the church to have them pray over me and baptize me in the Holy Spirit. my heart was expectant and my mind was believing, and he prayed over me for a long time, and then i prayed as well, i wanted so badly for there to be evidence by speaking in tongues, but it never happened. i was dissappointed and wanted an answer so i started to read up. i was being taught from a one-sided theology. i read the passage above along with 1 corinthians 14 and i began to understand. paul says that not only will everyone not speak in tongues, but that other Spiritual gifts are much more useful, and that we should desire those that are most beneficial to the body. i saw that teaching, leadership and service were all gifts from the Spirit as well and useful to the body, i saw where paul says it might be better for those who speak in tongues to stay quiet during church if there's no one there to interpret, and i began to seek out the gifts that i had been given.

[finally a point!] i began to see that the church i attended on wednesdays had a corner on the market for people who spoke in tongues, i saw that my 'home church' had a corner on people gifted in service, and i saw that churches like the one i attended in college had a corner on people gifted to teach and my church here in logan had a high percentage of people gifted with faith.

i began to see that that was no good.

we, as human beings, love to gather with people that are similar to us; but We, as the Church, have just ended up with one church that is full of hands, and another that is full of feet [1 corinthians 12:12-26] to be the Body that God envisions for His People we MUST get over ourselves. we must not be content being around a bunch of like-minded ears forever [v.17]. it is our diversity that makes us strong in our testimony as a community and proclomation to the world. our differences cause us to dicuss, to defend our beliefs (in turn learning what we really believe), and to discover what's really important. they teach us how to truly love others by loving people we don't always agree with. our diversity keeps us credible.

the Church is sick. we are divided.

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