We Need Each Other—A Paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 12:12–27 For Seven Voices

Reader 1:

For just as the body is one and has many kinds of members 
and all the members of the body, though many, are

All: 

one body,

Reader 1:

 so it is with Christ.

Reader 2:

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into

All: 

one body,

Reader 3:

all ages,

Reader 4: 

 all abilities,

Reader 5:

all incomes,

Reader 6:

all genders,

Reader 7:

all ethnicities,

Reader 2:

and all were made to drink of

All:

one Spirit.

Reader 1: 

For the church does not consist of one kind of member, 
but of many.

Reader 3:

 If the whole church were teachers,

Reader 4:

where would the learners be?

Reader 5:

If the whole church played the piano,

Reader 6:

where would the singers be?

Reader 7:

If the whole church were young or middle aged, 
where would the experienced wisdom be?

Reader 1:

As it is, God arranged the kinds of people in a church, 
each one of them, as God chose.

Reader 2:

As it is, many kinds of people are needed, yet there is

All:

one church.

Reader 3:

People who are able to read the creeds cannot say to nonreaders,

Reader 6:

"We really don't need you."

Reader 4:

Nor can folks who do not have mental illness 
say that they don't need people who live with mental illness.

Reader 5:

Those with sharp acuity cannot say to those with fading memory,

Reader 7:

“You’re not important here.”

Reader 5:

On the contrary, the people of the church who seem weaker are indispensable.

Reader 1:

 But God has so composed the church 
giving greater honor to people who are judged to be weak, 
that the body may be blessed.

Reader 6:

If one member suffers,

All:

all suffer together;

Reader 7:

 if one member is honored,

All:

all rejoice together.

All:

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is part of it!

—Original by Cecilia Mereness, The Banner, May 27, 1985, updated by Joyce Borger, 2018 with permission.