Community

As most of you know I sing in a semi-professional choir. I have been singing in choirs since I was in high school. One of the most interesting things about a choir, is that it is one of the only groups I am a part of where every member has to give 100%.

If just one person is slacking it can (and most often does) affect the whole choir. If one person if off by a quarter of a beat, they will come in early or hold the note too long and dramatically alter the performance. Every member has to be giving their best and not holding back.

Contrary to popular opinion it takes hard work, skill, dedication and a lot of time to produce a good choral performance.

I wonder what life would be like if in every situation I found myself I applied the same dedication and commitment I do in choir. How would that affect my relationships, my job, my church, my life? How would it affect those around me?

Just think if everyone everywhere gave 100% no matter what situation they were in. Even if it was a situation they did not particularly like or want to have to deal with...say a meeting at work or a struggling relationship.

What if I took the attitude I have in choir (if I'm not giving 100% it dramatically affects the whole) to the rest of my life? I would like to think that it would produce as positive results in life as it does in choir. But, I think that for it to work like that everyone everywhere would have to have a common goal and take the same approach.

Practically I'm not sure it could work in society as a whole because of so many diverse opinions about what a common goal should be. But the church is another story.

The church is a place where Christians come to proclaim the greatness of God, fellowship with other believers and reach out into their communities with the good news of the Gospel. The church has a common goal and a common purpose. What if everyone in the church gave 100% to the common goal instead of (as is often times the case) treating church as if were something that can be done half-heartedly.

I think if everyone in the church took the attitude I have in choir (if I'm not giving 100% it dramatically affects the whole) then we would see a dramatically different church. We would not see a fractured church filled with problems. We would see a church that, even when it had problems, would have people coming together in love to solve it, instead of pointing fingers.

We would see a church that positively affectes its communities for good and fulfills its God given purpose.

Down is Up

One of my favorite sci-fi books of all time is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's about children at a military academy on a space station training to be the next great military geniuses that defeat the attacking alien race. As part of their training they play a game in the battle room that can best be described as a game of laser tag in a zero gravity environment.

The object of the game is to get from your territory through the other team's territory and through their entrance to the battle room. One of the most important things that new recruits are taught is that once they enter the battle room "down is up". When looking into the room it appears that the enemy's gate is below you. But once you step into the zero gravity environment of the battle room what direction you are going becomes relative. You are no longer going 'down' to get to the enemy's entrance you are going 'up'.

I've had some changes in my life the past few weeks that have made me think of this whole idea of "down is up" again. My life took a couple of turns that I didn't expect and actually thought that they might be a negative. But the more I look at it and pray about it, the more I see these changes as a good thing.

So I started thinking about how God works in all the great men and women of the Bible.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely put into prison and then made second in command of all Egypt reporting only to Pharaoh.

Moses went from living in Pharaoh's court to herding sheep in the desert. Eventually becoming the leader that lead the Jewish people out of Egypt's slavery.

Ruth's husband died, she was living in a land stricken with famine. She returned to Israel with her mother-in-law and eventually found favor in Boaz's eyes. He married her, provided for her and her mother-in-law and because of this, Ruth, the Moabite woman, is in the lineage of Jesus.

Paul, who was once Saul, one of the greatest persecutor's of the church, became Paul the Apostle. As Paul he was beaten, shipped wrecked, thrown in prison and eventually killed for his faith. Yet this was the man who lead the evangelism of the Gentiles and wrote most of the New Testament.

These examples reminded me that God is not about doing things the way we expect Him to. Many times God does things completely opposite to what our plans would be. God does things to prepare us for the plan that He has for our lives. It may not always be easy, but the rewards are always worth it. And it helps to remember that with God sometimes "down is up".