Scripture – 1 Corinthians 12: 19-24a (CEV)

19 A body isn’t really a body, unless there is more than one part.

20 It takes many parts to make a single body.

21 That’s why the eyes cannot say they don’t need the hands. That’s also why the head cannot say it doesn’t need the feet.

22 In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest.

23 We take special care to dress up some parts of our bodies. We are modest about our personal parts,

24 but we don’t have to be modest about other parts.

Prayer Focus: As the children have met together to study this passage over the past few weeks, we have brought alongside it Unity’s Annual Vision, “A Place at the Table,” particularly the beginning section which says, “As God invites ALL to new life through Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, Unity Presbyterian Church seeks to respond by being and becoming a community that welcomes and creates belonging for EVERYONE as beloved children of God.” We talked about who is included in ALL and EVERYONE. Do these words include:

• Children, even wiggly ones and babies who cry and kids who are bored because they don’t understand the sermon and kids who can’t read yet and kids who have to go to the bathroom halfway through the service?
• Those with disabilities or learning differences, people in wheelchairs, and those who can’t hear or see?
• People who look different or dress differently than we do?
• People who speak a different language?
• People who have never been in a church before and don’t know how we do things in worship?
• Those with whom we disagree or who we just don’t like?

The children agreed that ALL and EVERYONE does not exclude anyone. Just as the body needs many parts to be a complete body, the church needs all kinds of people to be the complete body of Christ. We may need to adapt and change how we do things to accommodate some people, just as we dress up some parts and are modest about other parts of our body, but all are welcome and each is a necessary part. Pray for God to reveal to you who you exclude when you think about who is welcome at church. What might need to be adapted to help them feel welcome? How would our congregation be more like the body of Christ if we did include and welcome them?

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