HEADS UP!
It's amazing what we hold onto, isn't it? Case in point-- one Katie Clarke. Katie is the daughter of our close friends, Geoff and Hazel. I've known her since she was bumping into furniture and drooling on my knee. And, during the many years I've had the pleasure of knowing Katie, I have observed that she has a rather acute attachment for a particular doll.
Before we proceed, I have to qualify what I mean by the term doll. I know what you're thinking, "Grant, I know what a doll looks like. Gee boy give me some credit!" Well, I can say without reservation that unless you've seen, "Special Baby Angel" as she is called, you already have the wrong image in your mind. Special Baby Angel would give convulsive nightmares to those who judge by the outward appearance alone. This doll makes the spiked-hair, sans-eyed, spidered-bodied doll of Toy Story fame look like a prom queen!
At present, Special Baby Angel is just a head. She is waiting for her seventh body to be fashioned by Hazel. Obviously, Katie has loved this doll to death several times over and she is to be commended and admired for her tenacious loyalty. But, the point I want you to catch is this - it is the head that makes Special Baby Angel, Special Baby Angel. No matter if this is Special Baby's seventh, or her second, or her fourth body, she is still Special Baby Angel because the Head remains the same.
Now what does a real head do? It runs the body, right? It controls those functions that sustain life and give purpose and character. Furthermore, the head is what we use to identify the body. When we see someone walk into the room we don't look at their feet, or their knees to see who it is, we look at their face. So in real terms the head is head and shoulders above the rest of the body. After all, what would happen to your body if somebody removed your head? Hmm. I guess we call a question like that, a "no brainer"
Let's face it, a body needs a head--that's just the way we were created and that's also the way the Church was created. In Colossians 1:18 Paul tells us that Christ "is the head of the body, the church" So Christ is to be the only One who gives purpose and function to the Church. As a result, the Church has life just as long as it is connected to the Head. Finally, what makes the Church distinctive from all other collections of people is Christ, it's Head. And if Christ isn't the Head of the Church, then the Church isn't the Church plain and simple.
So when I think about Special Baby Angel, I'm encouraged. I'm encouraged because I realize that the succession of bodies that have been connected to her head have all been both similar and different, but regardless, they have all been Special Baby Angel. The Church has changed over the centuries as well, and the Church as we have it today takes several different styles, several different forms because the body attached to the head has also changed. But, as long as we are connected to the Head. As long as we are being controlled and moved by the will and the working of God, we are the Church and the Church is just as indestructible as the Head to which it is connected.
At times the Church becomes stained and ripped and thread-bare and the world tries to discard us like an old doll that's outlived it's usefulness. But, such will never happen as long as we remain in Christ. Indeed the day will come when we will trade our rags in for some new threads! In Revelation 12:2 tells us, "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." I can't wait!
Let me leave you with a point to ponder about the Church. Church isn't what happens on Sunday morning or Wednesday night within the Church building, those activities are designed to help us grown in, and learn about our connection to the Head. Church only becomes the Church when it moves away from the building and into the world. It's there in our homes, in our communities, in our schools, in our workplaces, everywhere we go; and everywhere we are--as long as we are connected to Christ our Head. So don't think of the Church as a preacher, or a board, or a denomination, or a worship service, or gasp, a building! No, think of it as you sitting next to your coworker in the lunch room, or you helping your children with their homework. Remember, Christ is our Head and we are His body, so whenever we are moving, acting, serving according to His Will, we are the Church. In other words, whenever you are in Christ, you are in Church. Something to think about!
If you have any thoughts or comments on this Whatcha, I'd love to hear from you, just click on my name at the bottom of this page.
