Youth Reflections - Ear worms, body parts, and what it's all about.

Ugh! Here I am talking about ear worms again. You know, a song that gets stuck in your head and it starts to drive you a little bonkers?  The Hokey Pokey. That's what has been stuck in my head all week. (Sorry, it it's stuck in yours now, too.)

So, let me take you on a little adventure of things from this week that have triggered this ear worm.

First we are getting ready for the church's annual congregational meeting on Sunday. During that meeting, we will be approving the 2019 budget and I've been thinking about all different parts and people that have to come together to make the budget work.

Second, the church's Session is meeting this week and welcoming it's new members. Hanging around the meeting space on the walls in the Chapel are newsprint posters that list all the different committees of the church and their functions. It's a reminder that it takes all different kinds people with all different kinds of abilities to make the church work.

There are individual parts - like hands, arms, legs, and all the other things in the Hokey Pokey song that you put "in."  But they all have to work together to get to the last verse where we put our whole self in. 

And then there's Paul - writing to the Corinthians in one of this week's scripture passage. If you remember from last week, Paul is writing to folks in a house church in the urban city to help them live better together in community.  He instructs them about the talents and different abilities gifted to people by the Holy Spirit. These are all unique and individual gifts that should be used together with others for the common good.

In this week's passage. Paul continues on into analogy land by using the human body as a image for the church.  This is a pretty widely know passage and you might be familiar with it already.

Read I Corinthians 12: 12-31

Paul tells the people the church is like the human body  - which has many parts. But it’s all still one body. We are many different kinds of people, but we all come together to make up the church.  Just like our arms and legs and hands and eyes and noses do different things - God made us each different and we can do different things to show our love for God.  But, all these parts and these people need to work together.

Which leads me to the Hokey Pokey. 

So, what if you were doing the hokey pokey  - and all of a sudden your right hand said "no way!  I don’t want to be a hand. I want to be a foot?"

Or if your foot said “Um excuse me - I am not as important as a hand. I don’t want to be a part of this body.”

Or what if your head said—” Nope!  I don’t need the rest of you—I can Hokey Pokey all by myself.”

 Then  you couldn’t sing the song—and you couldn’t put your whole self in.

Paul is telling us that it’s pretty silly for us to think that one body part is more important that another. And it’s pretty silly of us to think that one person in our church is more special or important that another. We were created—and our body parts were created to all be very special individually—but we all have to work together to share God’s love.

Here are some things to think about this week:

• Think about your family, your friend group, your class at school, or any group that you are part of where you have to live or work together.  What part of this body are you? What parts are your family members  or friends and what roles to they play in overall functioning of the group? 
• How can you use your specific talents and gifts to help the whole "body" of your community? 
• Most people hate group projects that you have to do for school or work. I think it's because there are always people who do more than others,  get a little bossy, or don't take responsibility for their part. How could this image of the parts of the body help you next time you are involved with a group project? 

There are a lot of people that just like to do everything by themselves and in their own way. Paul is reminding us that the church, and our families and communities, function better when we embrace all the parts, no matter how large or small, and allow them to work together.  

That's what it is all about!