"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
1 Corinthians 12:27
I live in a small town, so holiday
parades are a big deal. If there's a holiday, we'll have a parade.
The Christmas parade has become a HUGE event for Georgetown (at least by our small-town standards). The whole community participates. We don't
have floats, though; we have entries. Cars and trucks decorated for
the season. Being a waterfront community, we have our share of boats
being towed down the main street. School groups, clubs, fraternal
orders of so-and-so will be seen walking the parade route. Fire
trucks, ambulances, and law enforcement vehicles also participate in
the procession.
People used to throw candy from the
vehicles, but now someone has to walk alongside the vehicle and hand
out the candy; they were afraid that little children were going to
get run over, or something like that.
It's a festive atmosphere, to say the
least. Over the years the parade has grown significantly, both in
terms of attendance and the number of entries. It's a great way for
our community to celebrate the season, and to show pride in
Georgetown.
This past year, though, one of the
entries took me by surprise. Coming down the road along with all the
other entries was the City of Georgetown sewer and drainage cleaning
truck. No bows or ribbons, just a big ol' truck moseying down the
road. I remember thinking to myself, “Only in a small town will you
have a sewer truck in a Christmas parade.” I chuckled a bit to
myself at the sight.
Later on, though, I had a thought: Why
not a sewer truck? The sewer cleaners are every bit as much a part of
our community as the firefighters and police officers. Where would
our city be if we didn't have the fine folks of the public works
department laboring hard on our behalf every day? Hooray for the
sewer truck, after all!!!
It made me think of what the apostle
Paul teaches about the church. The church, he says, is like a body.
Just like the human body has many parts, so does the church have many
parts. And just as every part of the human body is important to the
overall function of the body, so is everybody in the church important
to the work that Christ gives to the church.
Everybody matters.
Everybody.
It takes all kinds to make up the
church, the Body of Christ. Each person has God-given gifts that God
intends for us to put to use in the ministry of the church. When one
of us is missing or is unable to do what God has equipped us to do,
then the body suffers. We all need each other—that's the way that
God has made the church.
I'm really glad the city sewer truck
was in the Christmas parade. They are very important to the
community.
I'm really glad that God has put you in
the church (even if you may be in a congregation other than mine);
you are very important to the Body of Christ.
“Now you are the body of Christ, and
each one of you is a part of it.”
Each. One. Of. You.
What I miss about small towns is the love of community and the get-togethers on the holidays. I am glad to read that your town still does this. It seems like so many cities have done away with such things. And hey, sewer trucks are the unsung heroes of the community!
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