Full Circle

Comfortable and convenient are not words we associate with arguments or disagreements. It seems sometimes that just when we feel we are on the right path, something changes.  So, we must be prepared for the difficult times too, even as we enjoy some pleasant, if not prosperous seasons.

We all have them, both types. In Disney's movie The Lion King, this journey is called 'the circle of life'. A few of the lyrics contain these thoughts:

It's the circle of life

And it moves us all

Through despair and hope

Through faith and love

We will find ourselves living these words at one time or another. Rough times turn into smooth sailing which once again will encounter churning waters. Be it friendships, families, and even organizations. There are seasons of despair and then hope, faith and love. The way to survive it and be even better and stronger on the other side is by relying on God and hunkering down in His Presence.

Acts 14:21-22 (NIV)
They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.

Conflict is a given and because we are all wired differently we process things in a variety of ways. The way you see something might be totally different from my view. That is normal. But conflict doesn't have to mean disunity, or just plain quitting and walking away. It means we need to meet it, greet it, and get over it! Having a close relationship with Jesus will show us how to do this and do it with style and dignity.

Acts 14:21-25

Spinning plates

“They preached the good news in [Derbe] and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.” Acts 14:21-22

It’s hard to believe our society was once entertained by spinning plates!  I’m not kidding. Whether on Ed Sullivan or any other variety show, if you tuned in often enough, you’d see a guy whose schtick was to get a plate spinning on top of a long, skinny, flexible pole ... and then another plate on another pole ... and then another. His objective was to get as many plates as possible spinning at the same time, starting up new ones while reviving others as they began to slow down and wobble, falter and fall. And of course, there was the inevitable shattering of those that didn’t make it. (It was the Cold War era, so we were conditioned to handle such tension!)

Our church’s mission statement – "To be and to make disciples of Jesus Christ" – has a “spinning plates” element to it. We make new disciples, even as we build up and nurture those who have been in Christ for some time. It’s no different than Paul and Barnabas traveling to Derbe “to make” new disciples, then turning their attention to more tenured believers, strengthening and encouraging them to continue “to be” disciples.

Unlike the aspiring entertainer on “The Ted Mack Amateur Hour,” not one of us acts alone in mission. Some of us are the observing eyes that see plates in peril. Some may be the legs and feet that take the body of Christ to to one that is falling. Perhaps we’re the right hand that reaches out to keep a plate twirling, or the left hand that performs the same function elsewhere. Maybe we’re the knees and waist that bend down to pick up a new plate and launch its eternal revolution.

But with so many plates in so many places at the same time, and each varying in velocity, how can we possibly keep it all straight and move each part of the body exactly where it needs to be at the right time? (Rhetorical question.) That would be the job of the head, the brain, always aware and constantly coordinating each member of the body with the others, each doing its part in its time. That would be Jesus, the living Son of God, the head of the church who moves each member as he wills and for his purposes.

Ours is simply to trust him and move where he directs us to move. When he says, Speak," we speak. Where he says, "Go," we go. And as we obey – each doing his or her own part – it is the Spirit of Christ who does the work in people's hearts.

One more thing. Sometimes, we attend to plates, and sometimes we are the plates in need of attention. As we open ourselves to minister to others, it’s also important to open ourselves the to ministry of others.

[Note to husbands: “Spinning plates” is used here only as a metaphor. Don’t spin your plates at home.]

To see today’s full text, Acts 14:21-25, click here.