This column previously appeared in the February 7, 2018 edition

  For the past several months I have been dealing with a painful condition in the middle finger of my right hand commonly called “trigger finger.” Without getting all medically technical, it basically involves inflammation and swelling of the ligaments in the palm and fingers and the tendency for your finger(s) to lock down in beyond-excruciating pain. Then, you have to forcibly grab that finger and open it back up while uttering, sometimes screaming, words that would not normally be used in polite society. Being a pianist and writer, the right hand is fairly crucial and after using it for a short period would cause considerable discomfort and lead to a need for consuming an entire bottle of ibuprofen.

  Finally, after dealing with this for quite a while, I went to see my orthopedic doctor this past week and told him I was ready to do whatever it took to make it better. I should have thought twice about that statement. Just suffice it to say that I had always heard that cortisone was supposed to be your friend. Not so. Especially when injected into the palm. Do you realize how small a palm is when a cortisone needle is heading for it?

  However, as I lay there on the doctor’s table after the second shot, I had a couple of thoughts about my experience.

  I thought about the scriptures in 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about the body being made of many parts (head, foot, eye, etc.) and compares it to the church being made of many members. All parts have their particular purpose and if one does not function as it should, then there is a lack of harmony.  

  In thinking about the body example, my finger was like that. When playing the piano, doing any type of writing on a computer or by hand, picking up a laundry basket, anything that required all ten fingers to work together, Mr. Tall Man would refuse to work and would cause severe pain. After a few months, I was not functioning as well as I could.

  Churches have the same problem. Suppose one person gets tired of keeping the nursery and decides to give it up. After all, they’ve been keeping it for 20 years nobody seems to appreciate them. Somebody else can do it. Except that nobody else wants to do it all the time, so there are Sundays that nobody is there to take care of the children. And the children suffer. At the same time, another person gets disgruntled because they don’t like the flower arrangement on the altar, so they make a few phone calls and get others riled up about the flowers. Before long, folks are upset with each other over a set of plastic flowers and then somehow it gets blamed on the person who decided to not keep the nursery. All the while, the preacher is trying to preach God’s word and restore some harmony, but the choir doesn’t like him because they think he’s meddling with the lady who originally gave the plastic flowers. And the fellowship suffers.

  Sometimes the church needs a shot of something, just like my finger did. The shot of something could be known as the fruits of the Spirit; “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:23) If we have the Holy Spirit in our lives, then these characteristics should be present in our lives. We should be able to forgive and not listen to harmful talk. We should have patience and kindness toward each other. We should be encouraging to the fellowship for their places of service.

  Just as the cortisone shot will help my fingers function better, a shot of God’s love will help your church minister as it should.     And for today my friends, this has been the gospel according to Jimmy.