“The Christian tradition is filled with references, stories, and metaphors that speak to [this dynamic] interdependence. Paul’s metaphor comparing the community of church to the human body captures the essence of our interdependence. When Paul wrote his letter to the church at Corinth, he understood that its members ministered within a bustling city much like many of our cities today. Corinth was a commercial center of 600,000 people. From the dawn of Greek civilization, it was a strategic maritime port, a crossing of shipping lanes, and a meeting point between East and West. Corinth also earned a reputation for vice, as a place for hedonistic pleasure and ostentatious wealth. Behind this wealth were pervasive and severe poverty and a culture that often neglected the poor. And Corinthian society was so riddled with competitive individualism and disregard for the poor that this sensibility spilled over into the church, where feuding groups were built around the personalities and teachings of rival leading figures from different house churches. Instead of creating unity out of their diversity, the Corinthian church experienced division and rancor. Sadly, we see similar polarization today in our faith communities and our nation……
Paul’s metaphor comparing the church to the functioning of the body is an image that applies to the health of our communities, our nation, and our world. The lessons of the body- interdependence- ties together three realizations and commitments:
-To protect the weakest, most vulnerable members of society;
-To demonstrate an equal concern for one another; and
-to recognize that our security, our prosperity, and even our wholeness is tied to that of others. “
~Adam Russell Taylor : A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community.
The Undoing of Me 