Finding Faith ... in a world where we actually are the body of Christ

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on Aug. 18, 2023.

The Rev. Devlyn Brooks at his home church, Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn.

By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks

“Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Evidence that we humans need each other more than ever is all around us. I turn to the scriptures to bolster the argument, but one only needs to look at the social research that is prevalent if the Bible isn’t your cup of tea.

This week the trusted pollster Gallup released data from a large survey that found “adults who regularly say hello to multiple people in their neighborhood have a higher well-being than those who speak to few or none,” as described in a CNN story.

Additionally, the data found that those who were friendly with their neighbors not only fared better socially, but regular greetings to one’s neighbors “improved a person’s physical, financial, career and community health.”

Now, of course, some will write this off as non-scientific pish-posh. After all, the survey relied on people telling the truth, and we all know that’s a department we all struggle with. But, I do think the survey results bear enough merit to demonstrate that we humans just were not built to be independent creatures.

Rather, we were lovingly created to be in community with each other, and thus in community with God the Creator as well. In fact, some interpretations of being in “sin” relate specifically to being out of relationship with the rest of the Body of Christ, and therefore God as well. In other words, maybe the greatest sin of all is not to be in community!

What’s troubling in our frenzied rush to political and social tribalism, which only promises us a false peace, we seem to have forgotten that God never intended for there to be “others.” God created one people, who are as diverse as this large world has to offer. And our continued idolization of political and social camps is antithetical to the Creator’s plans from the very beginning.

Just think about what Gallup’s survey is telling us: If the simple act of greeting your neighbors with a hello, a wave or even the famed steering wheel finger waggle leads to individuals self-reporting that they have better well-being, imagine what an entire lifestyle based on the same principle might yield?

Jesus spent his entire ministry including people, especially those who were on society’s fringes: the ill, the poor, women, the young, tax collectors … the many who were considered unclean.

Now imagine if we were to actually behold those same principles! … None to be excluded or to be made to feel as if they were less than human or had something to be ashamed of.

Imagine how many more people would self-report a better well-being! … Imagine how much healthier as a Body of Christ we’d truly be! Amen! 

Devlyn Brooks is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and serves Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He also works for Forum Communications Co. He can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com for comments and story ideas.