I write this blog today while in Corpus Christi, celebrating Alexia\u2019s birthday. We\u2019ve had a grand time. Intermixed with the wonderful family times, I have been drawn to this old city\u2019s name, Corpus Christi. It has stood out to me in a most reverent way. I can\u2019t help but believe that God put this pull on my heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Honestly, never have I given thought to this city and what the name means. In fact, no city\u2019s name has given me pause to research it. But, while I\u2019m here, I have had a hunger to know more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I found that in 1519, on the Roman Catholic Feast Day of Corpus Christi, Spanish explorer Alonzo Alvarez de Pineda discovered a lush semi-tropical bay on what is now the southern coast of Texas. The bay, and the City that later sprung up there, took the name of the feast day celebrating the “Body of Christ.” Think of it. A town named for us \u2013 those who are believers who scripture says “WE ARE the Body of Christ.”
The Apostle Paul wrote these words in 1 Corinthians 12:27 \u201cNow you are the Body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.\u201d What does that mean? The Body of Christ? The preceding verse 26 says: \u201c If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In other words, together \u2013 we make the whole. As whiny as it sounds, I have had an embedded hang nail that hurt so bad that my whole body reacted to it. And, as winning as it sounds, I just had my teeth whitened by my dentist, and my whole body reacted to it in complete satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am taking Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, so seriously that I was drawn to go to the Corpus Christi Cathedral yesterday morning. It was just a few short blocks from our hotel. I sensed God\u2019s holy presence there. Of course, I felt it. When I received communion, I received my Lord\u2019s body and blood.
Twila Paris wrote a song that I have loved since I first heard it years ago.
How beautiful the hands that served
The wine and the bread and the sons of the earth
How beautiful the feet that walked
The long dusty roads and the hill to the cross
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful
Is the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How beautiful the heart that bled
That took all my sin and bore it instead
How beautiful the tender eyes
That choose to forgive and never despise
How beautiful, how beautiful, how beautiful
Is the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are those who love their country so much they\u2019re willing to go to the front lines for her. We aren\u2019t being asked to go to combat or be on the front lines, but as Christ followers, God asks that we be front liners for Him as His hands, feet and voice on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Body of Christ is not a figure of speech. Each believer, you, and me, make up the Body of Christ, literally, as much as Jesus when He walked the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By our presence on this earth at this time is an assignment direct from Heaven Central. If we are willing to serve God\u2019s missions, we are being Jesus \u201cwith skin on\u201d. When we step up to pray and praise, we can expect the trajectory of our prayers to bombard the gates of hell and the grave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Praying WITH and FOR God\u2019s people puts us on the front lines \u2013 the front runners \u2013 the bold, the brave and the beautiful. Our prayers prove God still walks the earth in the flesh of you and me. We can be God\u2019s ear for them, God\u2019s touch, and God\u2019s comfort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I write this blog today while in Corpus Christi, celebrating Alexia\u2019s birthday. We\u2019ve had a grand time. Intermixed with the wonderful family times, I have been drawn to this old city\u2019s name, Corpus Christi. It has stood out to me in a most reverent way. I can\u2019t help but believe that God put this pull…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24674,24673],"tags":[1210,3833,1769,24676,24675,24677,24679,24678,40,9052],"class_list":["post-16736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corpus-christi-cathedral","category-corpus-christi-tx","tag-blog","tag-body-of-christ","tag-christian","tag-corpus-christi-cathedral","tag-corpus-christi-tx","tag-feast-day-of-corpus-christi","tag-hands-of-jesus","tag-how-beautiful-is-the-body-of-christ","tag-inspiration","tag-twila-paris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16736"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16739,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16736\/revisions\/16739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}