We’ve gotten so used to things being perfect that we’re likely to forget that, when things were made by human hands, they were pretty good—often beautiful, but rarely perfect. Nowadays, robots even make our cars, which come with diagnostic computers. We’ve become impatient with imperfection, in the stuff we buy and use, in other people, and in ourselves.

And the Gospel says, “So be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

But the word “perfect” does not mean flawless. The very first definition in my American Heritage Dictionary is: “Lacking nothing essential to the whole; complete of its nature or kind.” It means whole. That’s doable. Just accepting imperfection—in things, in people, in ourselves—is incredibly freeing!

So the Gospel is an instruction for the imperfect, and what songs reinforce that? The wonderful text of “For the Healing of the Nations” has been set to various tunes; pick one your community knows. The jaunty tune of  “Somos el Cuerpo de Cristo/We Are the Body of Christ,” by Jaime Cortez, makes that instruction a joy to be embraced, a call to the possible: “We’ve answered ‘Yes’ to the call of the Lord.” Haugen’s “We Are Many Parts” reinforces our connectedness to one another. We are not alone, “we are all one body, and the gifts we have we are given to share.”