Story of the Bible, Act 11: Body of Christ

Out of all the billions of people in the world, no two people have the same fingerprints. Each one of us is unique, and that uniqueness is far more than skin deep: our minds and hearts are even more varied. But God called us together into churches, and into his one great worldwide family: as different as we are, we're united in Christ.  

There's a saying in English that 'blood is thicker than water'. It means that our family relationships are more important than anything else. In the Church, God turns that on its head: the water of baptism is thicker than blood. We share something with a fellow-believer that we don't share with our closest unbelieving relative, even though they might speak a different language, live on the other side of the world and have nothing else in common with us at all.  

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the Church to a body, with feet, ears and eyes. If our foot hurts, it's personal – it doesn't matter which part of the body suffers, 'I' suffer. We all need each together and we all belong together.  

And the body also has a head, which is Christ. 'God put all things under Christ's feet, and gave him to the Church as supreme Lord over all things,' says Paul to the Ephesians (1.22, GNB). The gospel means that we have to learn together in harmony, as the parts of the body work harmoniously together – but it also means we're under the authority of our head. Jesus is Lord, of our lives and in the Church.