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After two weeks, the Lambeth Conference has come to an end. In this Saturday’s Augusta Chronicle, the city’s Episcopalian pastors offered their take on the discussion and dissension over the role of homosexuals in church leadership and the unity of the fractured Anglican Communion.

A week earlier, a number of men and women with disabilities shared how they felt rejected and invisible by the church, which isn’t subject to most of the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many of these men and women said that they’ve been unable to serve others in the church as they’d like, not because of their disability, but because of outdated architecture or attitudes. Read their stories, along with suggestions to improve accessibility, here.

Both stories gave me pause, perhaps for the reason that, while on entirely different topics, churches and people, a common frustration was shared. One pastor and I talked in particular about 1 Corinthians 12. The chapter begins on spiritual gifts, but turns to talk of roles within the church.

“14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. …

26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

There are no easy answers. Sometimes, I think all we do as newspaper folks is ensure that no one suffers, or rejoices, alone.