Christian artist, Twila Paris, does a song entitled, "How Beautiful is the Body of Christ." Some of the lyrics go like this:

How beautiful when humble hearts give
The fruit of pure lives so others may live.
How beautiful the hands that serve
The wine and the bread to the sons of earth.
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

The Church is the body of Christ. The world calls the Church an institution. Not all of us feel a need for an institution. Others call the Church a great society. Not all of us are into societies. St. Paul called the Church the body of Christ and gave us a lasting impression of its diversity and unity in the text we want to consider today, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13:

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though the parts are many, they form one body.…