You Are Essential
With Casey Barrett
Non-essential is a word that has featured more frequently in our lives in the past 12 months: Non-essential travel, Non-essential retail, Non-essential contact. Some of us have been classified “key” workers, and for good reason: those with jobs necessary to keep the basics of modern life going. But if only some are “key” workers, the rest of us are therefore “non-key” – Non-essential workers. The pandemic that defined 2020 and continues to cling on to our London life has forced endless uncomfortable decisions, classifying some things essential and others, Non-essential.
Unfortunately, the same has been and continues to be true in church life. It’s not only the law and government guidance that have restricted the way we’ve gathered as a church during this time. We’ve made conservative decisions along the way to hold back on doing things that would have been technically allowable, in the interest of keeping our people safe and doing our bit to curb the spread of this virus. We used to shout a round of coffees for the tech team and band on a Sunday morning. We used to invite extra people to be involved in the production of the service, training up for technical roles or speaking to camera in the studio rather than from home via Zoom. Of course, if you cast your mind back far enough, we used to meet in a building together, we used to meet in each other’s houses, we used to meet in cafes and pubs. Some activities, some events, some entire ministries, have been deemed Non-essential.
If you’re like me and struggle to separate what I do from who I am, you might find yourself starting to question whether you’re a Non-essential person. My gift isn’t important right now. I don’t feel like I have anything to contribute in this season. Nobody would notice if I wasn’t here. Am I Non-essential?
The Apostle Paul had heard of a similar problem arising in the church he planted in Corinth. Those early Christians didn’t have the benefit of 2000 years of church history coaching them on what was or wasn’t acceptable church behaviour. They were Greek Roman citizens and so they behaved in the only way they knew. They were men and women, slaves and free; some highly educated, others not at all. These categories mattered a lot to the people of the ancient world, and it was normal for men to promote themselves in front of others, boasting of their achievements, their education, and their social status. It was acceptable and expected within their culture that those of higher status were due respect and honour, while those of lower status were not. Some men were essential members of society, whereas others were definitely considered Non-essential.
This kind of behaviour was having an impact on the way the Corinthians conducted their church services. There were a variety of behaviours happening in the name of one-upmanship or to intentionally demonstrate that you were more important than someone else. Some were making a big deal about head-coverings and the kind of unhelpful signals these sent to others in the group due to their cultural significance (1 Cor. 11:2-16). When they gathered around a shared meal, the rich and elite gathered at one end and served themselves the fine food and drink, while the poor and low-status went hungry at the other end (1 Cor. 11:17-34). Even when it came to spiritual gifts, some wanted to demonstrate their spiritual superiority by speaking or praying over the top of others, perhaps interrupting, contradicting, debating and arguing about what had been said (1 Cor. 12:1:11). They weren’t being rude; this was just the Corinthian way of life. However, Paul has a new way of life for them: Jesus.
To make his point, in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 Paul describes the church as a body – a human body – with each church member representing a different body part. Some are eyes, some are ears; some are hands, some are feet. All look different and have different functions, but all are necessary and all are part of the one body. Each has been given its form and assigned function by the one and the same God. Some may have the gift of prophecy, others may have the gift of speaking in tongues, yet it is God who assigns the gifts, and it is the same Spirit manifest in each. Each part of the body is necessary to make up the whole. Some parts may seem less significant than others, but if they were missing, the body would be incomplete. God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be (1 Cor. 12:18 NIV).
The past week or so has brought me a real glimmer of hope: the possibility that our church services will return to pre-2020 normal, maybe within just a few months. We’ll have a café team again. We’ll set up chairs. We’ll have a kids’ church. There will be opportunity again for more people to serve, to get involved, to use their gifts. The body will start to function again like it used to. If the past 12 months have left you questioning your purpose in our church – your part of the body – hope is in sight.
However, in the remaining months ahead of us, before we return to normal, be assured that you always have been and will always be an essential part of the body now. While some ministries and roles have needed to take an extended holiday, and we haven’t been able to squeeze everyone into the venue for a production team role, simply tuning in to watch, or joining in the chat, or praying for others, or turning up to a Borough Group, or a 7:30am Zoom prayer meeting, have all been and continue to be essential parts of the body. God hasn’t made some parts that are, and other parts that aren’t – all parts of the body are essential. Your part is essential. What you contribute is essential. Your gift is essential. If you’re part of our church body, you are essential.
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