Enjoy the following true story that is a parable of unity and what the church - the Body of Christ - should look like.
During Vacation Bible School a teacher had an experience with her primary class she says she will never forget.
Her class was interrupted on Wednesday about an hour before dismissal when a new student was brought in.
The little boy had one arm missing and, since the class was almost over, she had no opportunity to learn any of the details about the case or his state of adjustment.
The teacher was very nervous and afraid that one of the other children would comment on the boy's handicap and embarrass him. There was no opportunity to caution them, so she proceeded as carefully as possible.
As class came time to close, she began to relax. Everything was going to be OK! She asked the class to join her in their usual closing ceremony.
"Let's make our churches," she said. "Here's the church and here's the steeple. Open the door and there's…."
The awful truth of her own actions struck her. The very thing she feared had happened, and by her own words.
As she stood there speechless, a little girl sitting next to the boy reached over with her left hand, placed it next to the boy's right hand and said, "Davey, lets make the church together."
This story may be seen as a parable of our search for oneness in Christ: to put our inadequate, handicapped lives alongside the lives of others and to pray, "Let's make the church together."