Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Community

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others (Romans 12:4-5).

Some time ago, the Discovery Channel aired a program on Japanese honeybees. It seems that the Japanese honeybee has a fearsome predator, the Giant Japanese Hornet. When one of these hornets finds a honeybee nest, it will kill a few bees and take them back to its nest to feed its larvae. But it then returns to mark the hive with a scent which attracts other hornets. It only takes a few additional hornets to slaughter the honeybees.

But the honeybees have a way to kill the hornets. They don’t use their stingers; instead, when a hornet is attempting to mark the hive, over 100 worker bees gather near the entrance and taunt the hornet with an aerial dance. The bees then dart into their nest, the angry hornet following. However, once inside the hive, the hornet finds itself surrounded by 500 angry workers who jump on him and enclose him in a ball of honeybees about the size of a clenched fist. This clump of bees starts vibrating, raising the air temperature around the hornet to 115 degrees, a temperature lethal to the invader but not to the bees. The hornet dies, the hive is left unmarked, and the colony is saved.

As Christians, we often face giant hornets, problems that are just too big for us to handle alone. Thankfully, we don’t have to. God’s Holy Spirit has gathered Christ’s followers into communities that can work together for mutual protection and support when giant hornets come into our lives. These communities are the churches of Jesus. When you are unable to put a plate of food in front of your child for dinner, the people of Christ’s church are there for you. When you need someone to be your buddy to hold you accountable as you struggle with addiction to alcohol or gambling or pornography, the people of Christ’s church are there for you. When you are in despair because of abuse or divorce or a life-threatening medical diagnosis, the people of Christ are there for you. Of course, this works both ways. As a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit has called you to be an active member in the community of believers. You must be ready to band together with your spiritual brothers and sisters to help when one of them is faced with an overwhelming problem. The members of the church need your involvement, that together you might hold each other up in love.

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