Two boys on the bus are talking about messaging and the voice recordings they sent. And one of them identifies an area for further improvement. “Wouldn’t it be cool, if you could listen to the message while the other one is still recording and answer right away?” It’s true. Modern telephones should allow you, to hear the other one, while he or she is speaking, and answer right away. Why hasn’t anyone thought of that?

When you try to explain a smart phone to elderly people, you will see them struggle with all the possibilities and everything they need to know. That seems especially true for those, who did not work with computers. The idea, that you do not need any extra device to store the numbers of your friends is almost mind blowing. But that you can run a successful business just with this little piece of technology? That is too much. So, even though they might have one, they will probably only use a small portion of its capabilities. The two boys from the last paragraph might laugh at my nana and her flip phone. But even they did not come up with the idea, to just call their friends. Nobody is using all the features, but every feature is used by someone. (Back in the day, I even witnessed someone using push to talk once. Believe it or not.)

In the Church we often have the same problem. We stick to the parts of the Body of Christ, that we know. And all to often, we are not aware of all Its features. So much so, that we don’t acknowledge, what we see, as a vital part of the Church.

There is the joke, that a certain denomination (Anglicans, Catholics, Charismatics, Presbyterians, Protestants; just to name a few in alphabetical order) thinks, they are alone in Heaven. It is not that wrong, is it? I mean, we are the ones with the correct biblical doctrine, right?

I think, it is time to realize, that God and all His features, the Spirit and all Her gifts, the Church and all Her facets are more diverse, than we can see. If we start looking into all the different features and forms, the Body of Christ has, we might discover beauty, we never thought possible. And it is time, to come together and use our diversity to the Glory of God. But it all starts, when we stop leaving the others bits and pieces to think about, but actually get up and talk to each other.