Corporate. Community. Union. Assembly. Congregation. Words used in faith-based gatherings to refer to the the Church; the Body of Christ. While distinct in their own ways, all share a common element: the concept of One.

We've discussed this miracle called the body of Christ in terms of a corporate One-ness from which we draw our personal identity where we are at the same time collectively both one in union and one in singularity. If this is true, it changes how we read and apply scripture.

We've been discussing putting on a mindset of corporate Oneness, and reading God's Word in like fashion. What say we start bringing this down to a personal level? What can (should?) this look like in our doings day-to-day?

There's a downside to community in singular One-ness. If your joy is literally my joy, then conversely your sadness is every bit mine, too; and my failure becomes your failure, and your weakness or pain becomes part of me, and my addiction or unlovingness infects and weakens you as it does me.

The portrait of the body of Christ that Paul painted was of one “upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Cor. 10:11)—that is, God’s people are at one and the same time in both the already and the not yet of God’s kingdom.

The human body is a marvelous thing. If a part of my body gets infected or diseased, there is within me something of which I have little understanding but great appreciation.