Yesterday I was tidying the top drawer of my desk, its one which I do not very often touch. It has those things like sunglasses, stapler, bookmarks, fans, staples in it, and at the back forgotten, it has a few other random items as well. In a money bag I had carefully kept a few bits and pieces. Things which only have value to me, to anyone looking through my things they would make little or no sense. Maybe we all keep those items which have such significance to us but have no monetary value. The reason behind why we keep them and the association they remind of us and not what their financial value is the motivation to keep them.
Well, I came across a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Normally when you have a jigsaw you want to know that all the pieces are there so that when the picture is constructed there are no gaps or holes in the middle. A chap I know was recently making one of those strange puzzles which was in the shape of a polar bear, but within it were many other types of animals from the Arctic as well. It meant that the jigsaw was unpredictable and far harder as there were no straight edges and no clear certainty about how to construct it.
Recently our grandson took a liking to jigsaws and so that we had a greater variety for him we went in search of those which were of the right age and might appeal to him in local charity shops. When buying them I noticed that the jigsaw boxes all have Sellotape on them to indicate that all the pieces are there, so that when constructed they will be complete.
Yet my one piece of a jigsaw is special to me. I do not know where the other pieces are. They could be in this country, or they might be in America or further afield. I do not know if they are kept safe or were thrown out years ago. What I do know is that the jigsaw was complete, it told a story of a place of beauty which held very mixed memories for me. It was split among a community of faith who had been together, shared much and then dispersed.
St Paul in his letters to the churches uses the image of the Body of Christ, it is a familiar description of the way that as churches they were composed of individuals with a variety of backgrounds, cultures, abilities and personalities. Yet each one was valued of and for themselves and each was able to be a part of the whole, and without one piece of that whole the church could not function in the same way for it lost something when one piece was missing.
We are just one piece. Only when we come together do we create a picture of unexpected beauty as we live as the body of Christ. The edges are not straight and easy to see but they weave and dance with unexpected beauty and grace depicting an image of Christ Jesus seen in love, kindness, gentleness, self-control and acceptance. The image we found in Jesus and live out more richly together than apart.