Similar to the trombone avoidance issue from yesterday, we had an incident with the handbell choir. This time, I was playing handbells, but again, the platform was small, the handbell players stood directly in front of the seated choir, and the piece we were playing had multiple sections of ‘tolling.’ This is where the player rings the bell, then swings it behind them in an arc, making the sound change for the audience. The small bells weren’t much of a problem, but the big bells, over in front of the alto section, could knock somebody out. The way things worked out, if you had been watching from the side, you would have been hard pressed not to giggle. Every time the bells tolled, the altos would lean way back in their seats, just missing getting hit. Everybody acted in harmony, handbell ringers and choir singers, each aware of the others, working together to make the music beautiful and injury-free.
Sometimes it takes more than one person to show compassion to a single individual. When a whole church combines their efforts to reach out to someone in need, that person can truly see the church as the body of Christ, just as described in Romans 12.
Most people have heard the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. A Jewish man was attacked by robbers, and while several Jewish leaders walked on by and ignored him, the Samaritan, who was the enemy, stopped to care for him and took him to an inn. Jesus used the parable to explain that our ‘neighbor’ means anyone with whom we come in contact. We are to love our neighbor, which means we are to love, and have compassion on, everyone.
But have you noticed how more than one person was needed to care for the injured man? Not just the good Samaritan, but the innkeeper too. The Samaritan provide the initial care, and the funds to provide for his needs, but the innkeeper provided a room and additional follow-up care until the man was well. What a way for the church to share burdens and show compassion!
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Romans 12:4-5