Together

As I walked through my neighborhood over the weekend, people had begun putting their discarded items out at the curb to be picked up by the city on Monday morning. If you walk with me, you know that I often come across interesting and fascinating stuff. Or, more accurately, I often come across stuff that I find to be interesting and fascinating. To the owners, the stuff is obviously just trash.

This offering caught my eye as I made the turn on a new block. For the life of me, I could not figure out what this might be. From a distance it appeared only as a low and dark blob. No shape to define its identity. As I drew closer, I could see that it was a collection of several somethings. Finally upon arriving at the address, I saw that these four pieces had once been fitted together to form a chair. Separately, they served no purpose. Together, they were something that was much, much more.

We humans are better together as well. When we fit together with others, we are more than we can be by ourselves. That is one of my favorite images and understandings of the community of faith. Paul describes the community as “one body” composed of many different and diverse members. Peter describes the community as “living stones” fitted together to comprise a living temple. We are more together than we are separately.

As precious as each of us are as individuals in God’s sight, together we are more. Together, we help each other through the hard times and challenges of life. Together, we double our joy in the celebrations life brings. Together, we pool our resources and can bless the lives of others in ways we could never do alone. We are created to fit together with others. When we live into that, we have the ability to be a blessing to the world.

Peace.