Ever felt disconnected, disassociated, dysfunctional, disjoined, disapproved, distant, disappointed…just straight up dissed? God doesn’t disconnect from people, so we know the problem isn’t God. In fact, he designed a model for us to be a part of that is imperative to who we are as Christians. It’s called the church body. And weekly worship is an important way that as the body, we can connect.

“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. If the foot should 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.” | 1 Corinthians 12:12-15

The analogy that Paul gives us is vital to understand and to practice for a church to be functional. As a worship leader for most of my life, this totally makes sense. We function best when we understand that we are a part of a whole. What’s most important is the body – not the body pieces.

So what about us as individuals?

We are created to be a part of a body of believers, and it is for our good that we participate in worship on a regular basis. When someone loses a limb or digit, their body adapts. Because of the loss of an integral part that made life easier, the whole is forced to make changes. Sometimes the body limps along, other times it thrives without that one body part.

However, think about the part that was lost. You never hear about the lost leg or that finger that went missing sitting on a shelf in a jar. The missing body part didn’t have a funeral, there’s no memorial set up in its honor. It’s just gone. It’s dead.

The deeper truth that Paul wants us to grasp is that we as individuals need the body as a whole. It’s not just a nice option for you as a Christian to participate in worship when it’s convenient. The church doesn’t need you to simply fill seats every weekend. The Church body was not created to find success in attendance, online views, or ministry statistics. The Church body is vital to our life. It’s for us.

The author of Hebrews (more than likely Paul if not, one of his pupils) talks about the importance of the individual to be in community:

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” | Hebrews 10:23-25

We can see that the importance of us is for the intentionality of being in relationship with Christ and the hope we have in Him as well as the encouragement we find from our fellow brothers and sisters.

Our society is becoming more and more removed. With social media, and the rapid and frantic race we are all running it’s easy to be disconnected. Technology, our search for meaning and purpose in worldly possessions and positions are getting in the way of what God intended for us. To reach our full God given potential we must be intentional in our connectivity of the life force which is the body.

Otherwise we are just an organ or a finger sitting on ice. And, well, ice melts.