Connections
Connections
Read 1 Corinthians 12:4-7
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
-1 Corinthians 12:7 (NRSV)
THE patient asked me to sing a hymn that I did not know by heart. Nevertheless, I started singing the few words that did come to me, and when I stumbled, the patient joined in. Together we finished — each contributing a bit of a song that lifted us up and carried us in a spirit of joy.
The blessing of this experience grew as I saw its broad message for my life: The “hymns” that I can sing by myself are not always the hymns that I need to sing. Sometimes stretching to do what we are not comfortable doing reveals the power of community, the partnership of faith. When the patient and I joined together in the hymn, we remembered our connection to each other, to the hymn writer, and to God.
Sometimes we feel as if success or failure is all up to us. But part of faith is stepping out when we don’t see the final destination, trusting the community to contribute what the next moment needs. We are not self-sufficient; we are designed to rely on one another, to create together what we cannot create individually. When we offer what we can, however small or unfinished, help will come; and we will discover a new and deeper love and appreciation of God and our neighbors.
Jonathan Scott (Connecticut, USA)
