What is your role in the church?

I started thinking about the patterns leaves make as we look up into trees. Leaves come in a wide variety. Every leaf has a job to do.

The design I chose is crazy patchwork. Not the traditional crazy quilt but using five templates so there is order although it isn’t obvious. Each piece is sewn to the next one forming a block, then sewn together to form the whole. Each piece plays a part in bringing the overall design to life. It isn’t random, it is carefully pieced to appear random.

The fabrics have different prints, one has birds, others have koru or leaves. Some are  green, others more colourful. What you see will differ from what I see.

In 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31, Paul likens the church to a body with each part having a job to do according to abilities or talents that each one has. An ear cannot detect a scent. Where would the eye be without the hands? Every part of the body is important and every part has a purpose, even the appendix we now know has a purpose.

Our bodies are amazing creations. We have many parts that we can live without, but bodies work best with all parts functioning.

The same applies to the church. Church buildings put most people in the audience but being part of a church is not like watching a cricket match where the crowd has little impact on what happens.

There are many tasks involved in keeping a church running and serving God’s purpose: everything from making a pot of tea after the service to preaching. We need worship leaders and door stewards, handy people to do a myriad of jobs. We need people to serve on the parish council, to clean, lead Bible studies and run outreach programmes. We require people who can make plans, to organise the minutiae, to put plans into action and people to do physical work. Everybody can do something.

Paul’s message in 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31, is as relevant today as it was in the first century. It is a message of unity, of working together for a greater good, a call for each of us to use our talents. For the church to survive and thrive today we must work together and respond to the times we live in. Everyone has abilities and talents. Nobody is useless.

When you look at the image of the hanging I made, do you see leaves dancing in the breeze?

Or do you see many pieces working together, expressing their own identities and talents for the benefit of all? How you interpret this design is up to you. What do you see? What is your role in the church?