I have a date tomorrow night! Well, actually, it’s more of an appointment, which will take place via a Zoom Meeting. Actually, it’s more like an assembly of people around various computer screens across the South – people who, while professing deep love for each other, are all different. And some of those differences will, inevitably, result in collisions. Not everyone will get what they want. What is going to happen then? There is going to have to be some areas of compromise.
The occasion for this assembly has to do with the division of my parents’ estate between the six siblings – all of us are orphans now. We’re going to be discussing the division of various pieces of furniture and other house-hold items. And no, I do not expect this Zoom meeting to dissolve into a war of words. There’s just not enough at stake in this meeting to merit any type of anger, or any kind of drawing of battle lines. We all know that our parents would not allow for such behavior. So, if for no other reason than to honor our parents, I am sure that this meeting will proceed calmly and in a spirit of cooperation. Besides, none of my siblings have the kind of personality that enjoys confrontation or the assertion of rights. So, I’m sure all will go relatively smoothly.
But, it’s a little strange to think about. During all those years of growing up with my brothers and sisters in the family home, I’m sure it never crossed my mind that one day, the time would come to sit down with them and divide up the stuff of our childhood. Who will get the kitchen table, around which we had so many delicious meals, followed by conversation – sometimes almost until it was time for the next meal? How do you put a price tag on that? How do compare the value of that table to the other mundane things in the house? How do you evaluate the many, many books that Mom collected over the years, each of which she so enjoyed reading and then sharing tidbits of the writers’ poetry and prose with us? What about Dad’s favorite chair?
And all that is the easy stuff. Somewhere in the future, there will be meetings to discuss the family home itself. So many memories surround that house – the gatherings of family and friends for Holiday meals, the games we played inside and outside, the times of quiet contemplation and discussions about Life and God and The Church while sitting with Dad on the swing. How can we let it go to someone who can never appreciate it like we do – someone whose interest is probably just the location, and who is likely to tear it down and start over from scratch?
All of this leaves my head spinning. How did it get here so quickly? Wasn’t it just yesterday when my siblings and I were kids and all these wonderful things were happening?
Well, I apologize for bringing down the mood. The truth is that pretty much everybody will go through similar things. My situation is hardly special at all. But, as I began writing, it occurred to me that the things I described about this Zoom meeting actually resemble in some ways how life within The Church is played out. The Church is the place where people from wildly different backgrounds gather, and Behold – a great mystery appears. These very different people, if they’re doing Church “right”, will profess deep love for each another, and will be willing to live sacrificially for each other, and will be happy to lay down their lives for each other.
And all of that mysterious love is constantly being put to the test. You cannot have different people without having some different ideas, and inevitably, there will be collisions. What happens when these collisions occur?
To put this idea into sea-faring terminology, Church History is littered with the debris, with the “flotsam and jetsam”, if you will, from the collisions of many ships. Sometimes, these collisions have sent people overboard and into the deep water. Perhaps, with much luck, some of these folks will be rescued. But more often than not, they are simply lost at sea, never to be found again, while the ship which collided with them steams off into the night, neither knowing nor caring about the disaster left behind.
Don’t believe me? Take a look, if you dare, into the comments section of practically any Facebook post about religious matters. I am astounded, and deeply saddened, at the numbers of people whose comments indicate they have left their former churches, and are now either attending a different church, or who have decided to avoid “organized religion” and instead opt for catching an occasional podcast or live stream of a church, thinking this is sufficient for their spiritual needs, or who have given up completely on faith and The Church. And virtually every time, the stated reason behind this decision is that they have collided with others who, while professing love, do not attempt to love in the ways Jesus has called His people to love – sacrificially, and laying down their lives for each other.
The Apostle Paul would be disheartened to learn of such things happening within the modern Church. How can things like this happen if we are trying to lay down our lives, our pride, our need to be “right”, for the sake of our others? We avoid terrible collisions when we simply do what Paul told us to do in Philippians 2:3 – “in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.” And think of how smooth our sailing would be if we simply remember this: “Who are you to pass judgment on another’s servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for The Lord is able to make him stand.” Romans 14:4.
Don’t you love that last verse? God is in charge, and He can actually make somebody stand, even when they think differently than me.
And Hallelujah! This same principle works the other way too. So, when you see me standing, please understand that it’s not me who is doing the work of standing. It is God holding me up.
Shepherd | Ambrose Ramsey
