1 Corinthians 12:12-24
“For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Indeed, the body is not one part but many. If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that are weaker are indispensable. And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable, we clothe these with greater honor, and our unrespectable parts are treated with greater respect, which our respectable parts do not need.”
I was teaching from this chapter recently in a Bible study on women and men in the Church. I was impressed again by how relevant these ancient letters of the apostles to specific churches are to the Church today. Evaluating one another based on the perceived status of the gifts each believer had been given by the Holy Spirit isn’t just a problem for the Corinthian Christians. We fall into that trap today.
One way we do this as women is to resent the instructions that Paul gives as to what church offices women may hold. I believe we think the really great positions and gifts are the gifts of public leadership and teaching of the Church. I often hear women say something like “All I get to do at our church is bake cookies and teach children.” I want to take the next few posts to talk about the value of baking cookies, teaching children and doing a whole range of hidden ministries in our churches and outside as extensions of our churches into our communities. I will start with cooking and serving food.
Our church has been privileged since late 2013 to have a beautiful new building with an atrium outside the sanctuary where we can serve food after or in between services and events. It is connected to a fellowship hall where meals can be served and a large industrial kitchen in which food is prepared. We had not had a real church kitchen for a number of years. The new building, and specifically the kitchen and atrium, has reinvigorated a whole range of ministries. The atrium and fellowship hall have been used for new members’ luncheons, missions presentations over lunch, a church potluck for New Year’s Eve, and wedding receptions, as well as many other events. In addition, every Sunday, when we are able to congregate in person, we serve bagels or sweetbreads in the atrium between services. This space, because of the food, becomes host to conversations, children playing while they eat and growing up seeing our church as an enjoyable place to hang out. We meet new people, or reconnect with the ones we know. The food is a huge draw.
In the kitchen, we enjoy the fellowship of serving together. It gives us occasion to catch up with people. Serving together also gives us the opportunity to go beyond the surface level of saying hello, often for years, to actually knowing one another on a deeper level and becoming much more than familiar faces. It is a place of service which draws the regulars, but also needs more participants, and so it becomes a place where unlikely participants are enfolded into church life. There are a couple of men who help in our kitchen, who came to our church alone and, as a result of serving in the kitchen and driving vans, have become knit into the fabric of our church. They have blessed our church with this much needed service. As I write this, I am thanking God for them, and missing the real fellowship that the church kitchen allows.
Jesus says when we give a cup of water to a child in His name, we have ministered to Him personally (Matthew 10:42). Today, I am writing about the value of making and serving food. (I will talk about serving children in another post.) Virtual life is creating a renaissance of home cooking. Perhaps when we finally are able to congregate again, and “break bagels together,” we will rejoice that we may bake and serve food with a new perspective. I hope so, because so much important ministry and fellowship is facilitated by the presence of food! It is never insignificant to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in this seemingly small way!