We are one body. Your success now is our success.

One of the traditions neatly tucked inside a desk drawer of the American democracy is the writing of a note from the outgoing President of the United States to their successor. On January 20, 1993, this how the hand-written note, from the 41st person to hold that office wrote to the one who bested him in the election just a few months before, ended:

Dear Bill,

....You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you.

Good luck — George

I heard this read over the airwaves earlier this week and it prompted me to think of the scripture from this past Sunday. We are all one body, the Apostle Paul declares in Romans 12. But, that was not the only place he invoked the analogy of the church as the body of Christ. He writes the church in Corinth, at a time marked by divisions, and says this:

Christ is just like the human body—a body is a unit and has many parts; and all the parts of the body are one body, even though there are many. We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greek, or slave or f
ree, and we all were given one Spirit to drink. 14 Certainly the body isn’t one part but many.... so that there won’t be division in the body and so the parts might have mutual concern for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.

- 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 25-27

President George H. W. Bush captured this part of the Gospel. We are created to be in relationship with each other. When one has success, we all do. The world pushes the agenda of scarcity, while heaven offers abundance. May this be our note to each other, as well. Grace and peace, Scott