Some Body to Love

 At the risk of getting whining responses from my readers, I'm gonna do it! I'm going to ask you to think about the lyrics from a song...knowing full well, once I mention the song and the refrain...you'll be singing it all week in your head, and you may 'dislike me intensely' for it. I say ‘intensely’ because ‘hate’ is really too strong a word to use here. So, read on if you dare...
The band Queen gave us some really great rock opera ballads; not the least of these is Somebody to Love. I set out for your singing pleasure, at the end of this blog post, the full lyrics. What’s addicting is the refrain which almost becomes a chant…

Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Can anybody find me somebody to love?
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love
Find me somebody to love

Isn’t this song reminiscent of what everybody wants? Somebody to love them? Main stream Christianity reassures us that God loves us no matter what; and that we can pray to God our Father directly, who loves us and cares for us. But, being God, He also knew that we would need human love too.

1Corinthians 12:12-27 reminds us that He wants us to be a part of a body of believers, a community, a family of faith, where we are each loved and valued by the rest of the body. God has meticulously put this ‘body,’ a local congregation, together to accomplish the things He wants accomplished. He wants all of the parts of the body to mutually depend upon one another and care for one another. He knows that this is possible when we truly realize that one of the most important things we can do on our spiritual journey is ‘learn’ to love somebody…the individuals who make up our local body, our local church. God knows that this is possible when we feel and share the love which comes about when our lives are truly submitted to God.

So, I’d ask you to think about the ‘somebodies’ in your congregation. I know that some of them are easier to love than others. I am presently, truly blessed to be a part of a wonderful body which is currently getting it right. It is serving, loving, and ministering to its parts, while doing local and global outreach. I’d like to say this ‘body’ has always excelled and loved its ‘somebodies,’ but it hasn’t.

In fact, there were times when this body was close to a spiritual death. The ironic thing is that some parts of this body were a part of this local family of believers when it was an ‘unhealthy’ body and are still a part of it today in its ‘healthy’ form. Some of the body parts are new, or refurbished, but many of them are ‘original.’ What has changed? What has cured or rehabilitated this body?

Several healthy things. Use this informal checklist to evaluate the health of your body:

♦The pastoral leadership is ‘preaching’ Scripture and not compromising the Truth in the Word, even though some of the topics are not ‘warm and fuzzy’ and the Biblical principles are not always easy to hear by all its hearers.

♦The very diverse congregation is responding in a positive way to being fed; and they are taking it seriously; that with the help of the Holy Spirit, no body part is unnecessary or expendable…there is a place for every miss-shaped ear, every arthritic finger, and even every crooked pinkie toe...all parts are mutually dependent on one another for the betterment of the entire body; and when the parts are serving in their gift...there is JOY.  

♦The pastoral leadership is intentional about spiritual formation and growth and is making resources available to the body so that they can learn their individual spiritual gift and the way they are uniquely and specially wired by God, so that they can serve joyfully and effectively. Being a part of this body is perceived as one where joyful obedience and discipleship is the goal; and not that the parts merely be plugged into ‘slots’ based upon the results of a sterile assessment tool designed to ‘strong arm’ the body into obligatory church service.

♦The pastoral leadership understands the role of helping the body with identifying its vision and in guiding the body, and is receptive to allowing the body to serve in personally fulfilling ministries, while not attempting to quash, or micromanage the ways in which the body decides to serve; provided it is God honoring and furthers the vision of the body as a whole.

♦The pastoral leadership has set a tone which expects the body to encourage, uplift, care for, and support its members; and which openly frowns upon negativity or criticism from individual members where positive solutions are not offered up as viable alternatives.

♦The body has become contagious, with the help of the Holy Spirit, in genuinely embracing the concept of ‘when one of us celebrates we all celebrate, and when one of us mourns, we all mourn’ in its approach to intercessory prayer and ministry to itself as well as to those outside the body.

If you are in Christian leadership, or a lone voice crying in the wilderness…and your body is unhealthy what can you do? Decide if you have the strength to swim upstream against the unhealthy current…and if you do, stand in and move within your body to change things…one person at a time, one attitude at a time, one outreach at a time. If you don’t have the strength or courage to try to change things in your local body, pray that God will make you aware of a new body which you can belong to; after all…everybody needs…some body to love.

Somebody to Love by Queen

Can anybody find me somebody to love?
Each morning I get up I die a little
Can barely stand on my feet
Take a look in the mirror and cry
Lord what you're doing to me
I have spent all my years in believing you
But I just can't get no relief, Lord!
Somebody, somebody
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

(He works hard)

Everyday - I try and I try and I try -
But everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm goin' crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
Got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe
Yeah - yeah yeah yeah

Oh Lord
Somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Got no feel, I got no rhythm
I just keep losing my beat
I'm ok, I'm alright
Ain't gonna face no defeat
I just gotta get out of this prison cell
Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!

Find me somebody to love
Can anybody find me somebody to love?