The Body of Christ

September 12, 2007, 1:15 pm; posted by
Filed under Articles, Chloe  | 3 Comments

I’m always nervous when I return to a place I haven’t been in a while. Going back to Houghton tends to be more difficult because I know my friends and I have changed in leaps and bounds, and the girl I wanted to hang out with all the time last year could quite possibly have morphed into a moody or flaky stranger. If I no longer know the people I knew, what will I be left with?

This semester, I only returned for a few days because, as most of you know, I’m off to merry old England tomorrow. The first chapel I went to emphasized the body of Christ. God singled out my fear and reminded me that the body of Christ is everywhere. I don’t know the majority of the students at Houghton, and some of them aren’t part of the body of Christ, but looking around the chapel, I felt nearly the same thing that I do when I take Communion — this is my family, whether I know them well or not.

After chapel ended and I began the trek towards the campus center, globs of people around me, my fears of isolation completely vanished. From every side there were people saying, “Chloe! Where have you been?” or, “Chloe, how have I not seen you this whole time?” Right and left, people who knew I was going to London were doing double-takes at my presence on campus. And for the three and a half days that I’m here, I have only half a handful of hours left to myself because my friends want to catch up.

The intense love that comes with residing in the body of Christ always surprises me. My group of friends has showered me with that love these past few days, telling me about their assistance in the first ever purely civilian election in Sierra Leone, their trials in teaching inner-city Buffalo kids to read, their joy in spreading the Word of God all over the East Coast with Dayspring. I am amazed at what my friends are accomplishing for the Kingdom, and they share their excitement with me as if I had been right alongside them the whole summer.

I am so blessed to be part of this group of people, and even more blessed to call the body of Christ my family.


Comments

3 Comments to “The Body of Christ”

  1. Tom on September 12th, 2007 4:18 pm

    What kind of hyperlinker fails to link the word “Buffalo” to a picture of a bison?

    A poor one, that’s wot.

  2. Steve on September 12th, 2007 4:26 pm

    Mea maxima culpa.

  3. Mike J on September 13th, 2007 2:04 pm

    Great article, Chloe.

Leave a comment!