Air Brushed into Oneness

How are you with jigsaw puzzles? They come in all styles and degrees of complexity.  Some are simple, made out of foam or wood.

 Others are intricate and may even contain puzzles within the puzzle.  Each of the 1000 pieces of this dolphin puzzle is itself a complete image of the sea or a beach. Gathered into wholeness, a picture is revealed (the dolphin) that was not visible when the pieces were unconnected from each other.  Each piece plays a role specific to itself (a sea image) as well as making a contribution to the larger image.

For some folks jigsaw puzzles are an utter waste of time.  Why go through the effort of sorting and placing 1000 pieces to form an image only to dissemble it and stick it back in the box?   We get around that sometimes by gluing the finished project to a board and framing it as a work of art. Even under glass though, the lines of demarcation are visible.

What if there was a way to air brush the image -- to remove, forever the gaps, the edges and points of separation?  Each piece would still retain its individuality.  However, there would be one image, revealed by the gathering of all into one, that would prevail.

These thoughts connect to St. Paul's commentary on what it means to be One in Christ.

People have an innate tendency to find groups where they can join around a shared vision or stance.  We fit together like puzzle pieces and we create a picture that is named as this or that group (Lutheran, Methodist, Liberal, Conservative).  Most people look for personal connections as well -- a circle of friends, including significant others.

We fit together for a while, sometimes until death parts us.  But connections which rely solely upon human intentions and desires are always subject to variation.  Depending upon the flow of life or the shift of our understanding, we may come apart.      This happens all the time in human relationships, doesn't it?  Take a look at any family album or institutional flowchart and you can see where connections that were once joined by vows or contracts literally "came apart".  

St. Paul reminds us, though, that there is a force working through Christ which shows us how we are to be gathered together and how we might "fit" in a vast puzzle of humanity.  As we share in God's Love for each of us, the divisions begin to be airbrushed away.  Each one of us is created by God to be an essential component of the Body of Christ, God's Dwelling Place.

In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God.   

Ephesians 2:10

 God draws us into community.   Our willingness to let go of our need to define ourselves against others, then, allows us to blend into the whole body where God dwells.  We don't lose our individuality.  Our unique piece in God's vast vision is assured forever.