Chicago!

 


This past weekend I visited Chicago with friends I’ve known for over 30 years.  

Chicago is a magnificent city with a rich history, and on Saturday we took one of their architectural tours.  On the tour we boarded a boat, and then as the boat went up and down the river, a docent talked about the various buildings.

The buildings were spectacular.  Many were tall, but some were not.  There were ones that were regal, and others that were showy.  Some were made of steel and glass, some of brick and mortar, while some were made of stone - quarried from places unknown.  

In some buildings architects sought to reflect the water, and in others the city itself.  Some of the buildings seemed to defy gravity, while some seemed heavily rooted to their space...

Many of the buildings were ornamented with carvings or little aesthetic details.  But other buildings were more “industrial”, built with a specific purpose in mind.  There were buildings with sharp edges, and ones with no edges at all.

Brick.  Steel.  Mortar.  Glass.  Concrete.  Stone.  Different materials all working together to lend structure to the architects’ visions. 

And as I looked at all of the buildings, I couldn’t help but compare them to people.  Like the buildings in Chicago, each us is different and unique.  Each of us has a different form.  Each has a different purpose.  But together, we are one amazing group!

First Corinthians 12:12-27 talks about this when it speaks about the different unique parts of the body...

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.  And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.  But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is part of it.”

This tells me that while we are individuals – God created us to be part of the WHOLE; working together, helping each other, caring for those who are in need, and giving to those who lack.

Today, let us seek to be like the buildings of Chicago – individual and unique but created to be part of an incredibly beautiful COLLECTIVE.

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