COMMUNITY SERIES
1st cor. 12
One Body Many Members
Romans 12:4-5
“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
SERIES STATEMENT
This series is based around concepts of unity within difference derived from 1st Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. In these passages the apostle Paul details the importance of individual strengths within the body of Christ through the allegory of an actual body. He writes in 1st Corinthians 13:14-19 saying, “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many…If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?” This is wildly humbling and overwhelmingly beautiful as we are called to recognize difference as strength, and bear witness to God’s goodness and intention as a loving creator.
Over the years I have showed series of 100 vases as one body distinguished by size, shape, and color; and unified by the clay body, contours, and the size of the tops. When curated, each vase is spontaneously arranged into a larger collective, which is then situated just off the floor where viewers are invited to see the whole of the body from an arial view. It’s my hope that people will stop and see themselves and/or their communities, reflected within this image. Whether they identify with a vase standing more on its own, or one in closer proximity to a few others, each vase within the larger image plays an integral role in the overall picture; and is shaped, formed, and purposed to serve as a reminder that within our difference we are stronger and purposed as one body. Purposed to “build one another up into the head that is Christ,” (Ephesians 4:15).