When Body Parts Fall Off

Something has been bugging me for months. Maybe years, actually. Yes years. This post may come off a little passive-aggressive, but I assure you it's not. But this last event hit our little fellowship pretty hard, and in reality, I am still in disbelief, mourning not only of a life lost, but those who left the fellowship because of it, [maybe].

An Elder in our fellowship, who has been on the board for even before I started attending 15 years ago, just retired recently and him and his wife had made lots of plans and were very much in love. But a few months into his retirement, she got physically sick, and were given a terrible diagnosis of stage 4 cancer. They elected to try and stop this disease by all-natural means. We prayed for them all, sent food, flowers, and helped financially. We were told not to come to the house and therefore were forced to respect their privacy. But within two weeks the cancer overtaken her body and she passed on to be with Jesus. An arm had fallen off this body and we suffered a loss.

Weeks went by and we hadn't seen the husband or the children and their families. We sent texts, made some calls, and continued to pray for their peace. They trickled in every so often, but then suddenly stopped coming all together. Of course it was a hard blow to them and the rest of the body, and we completely understood. We respected their privacy and gave up most contact. But then time passed, and were written in an email from our Pastor, that the Elder and two families will not be coming back. The husband drops off because of too much grief and disassociates from the church. The children of this couple begin to follow suit, and as time goes by, they all depart as if vanishing into the night. We not only lost an arm, but a leg, an eye, and the sense of smell.

Losing the individual families was a huge blow to the rest of the body. All of them will be missed. But what happens when you lose a heart, a lung, or a liver. Even a pancreas, though being the smallest organ in the human body, cannot sustain life without it. What happens when you lose a member of the body, that the body can't live without. What then? Not only was the widowed husband an Elder, but he was the Worship Team Leader, a board member, Website Guru, and the only one who is able and trained to clean up and add the sound files of the services and add them to the website so that people who missed the services or who live too far away, can hear them. This organ works behind the scenes and is shadowed by the flesh of the body, but without it, the body cannot survive.

You spend many years with the members of your congregation. Form bonds, friendships, and were there for many events. We've seen births, weddings, families formed, and deaths too. People come and go. But many times unfortunately people drift apart for many reasons I'm sure. The Elders may know these reasons, but the rest of the body does not. They just wake up one morning to realize that a body part has fallen off. They search under the bed, behind the headboard, under the pillow. But alas...it cannot be found, and don't know why. He or she wonders if other parts fall off and when? You miss them, and without word they are gone. No closure, no goodbyes, just disappeared.

But this is not like an organ transplant. You know when that happens, and it is a blessing. You lay down on the operating table yourself and sacrifice an important part of your body to help another body who is in dire need, so they can survive. Like us in the body of Christ, we may have parts that we love dearly, but are freely given in love to those who are weak to make them strong, and so they can be whole as we are. Some are in need of Worship Leaders, Missionaries, or Evangelists. These are important for a successful ministry to function. Giving organ transplants to help other bodies in Christ is a joyous thing. Not only for the giving body, but the receiving once especially. The whole body can rejoice. Both the giver AND receiver.