Reach out and grasp something. Consider all the body parts that participate in this very simple action. Your eyes read the command. Your brain processed it and sent a signal to a variety of muscles. They began to move your bones with the eyes and brain providing guidance and commands. The nerves carried messages and the circulatory system provided nourishment. Now consider the involvement of body parts in carrying something up the stairs or playing basketball. Your body must function in a very unified and cooperative way.
The Church was described by Christ and the apostles as a body. We as the church are to be as unified and cooperative as a human body.
As I have now been married for a few weeks, I am learning more and more to appreciate the incredible oneness and unity that comes out of the marriage relationship. The marriage relationship becomes an underlying factor in every other aspect of life. The love and support and service and joy that flows from the reality of such a relationship is delightful and unlike anything else. Everything else except maybe the Churches relationship with Christ.
We as the Church are to be united and cooperating like a body. This body is to have relationship with Christ, to experience the joy and unity of purpose and love and emotional connection and continuous awareness the relationship. I cannot describe well the connection I feel now that I am married, but I can tell you that it has caused me to consider more carefully what Christ means when He calls the Church, of which I am a member, the bride of Christ. What does it mean for my relationship with Christ if I am a marriage partner with Him.
.