It doesn't need to be the same old grind.....

As I expand upon my thoughts about the effect each individual can have upon his or her workplace, family or congregation, I recall something I wrote when I had just returned from a Healthy Congregations training session.... The importance of being mindful of the role you play in your community simply can't be ignored.

You are a part of a whole. You are connected in an infinite number of ways to everybody around you...and to people and situations beyond your vision.

I came across this picture of interlocking gears:



Notice the variety of sizes and colors -- gears within gears, adjacent to each other, at opposite ends of the gear system. If one begins to move, its movement ultimately generates some action in even the most distant point of the "community".

In a machine some of the gears may move with resistance, especially if the machine has been inactive for some time. Some of the parts may need to be lubricated or nudged along by an external force.

The image of a gear system popped into my mind as I read the passage from St. Paul's letter to the church at Philippi. As Christ moves through the church, if even one begins to respond to his loving action, all will move in accordance with each one's size, place and function in the system. An infinite number of qualities is represented...yet the singleness of purpose that emerges when gathered together in Christ results in harmony and in continuous motion...like a smoothly running machine! It may take time. Some of the parts on the outskirts of the community may not even know, initially, that movement has begun. Still, once the motion starts, the effect grows...exponentially!


Where do you fit in your system? As you have taken some time away for vacation or retreat, how has your awareness of Christ at YOUR center transformed your capacity to love...

Philippians 2:1-4

So if in Christ there is anything that will move you, any incentive in love, any fellowship in the Spirit, any warmth or sympathy -- I appeal to you, make my joy complete by being of a single mind, one in love, one in heart and one in mind. Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead, out of humility of mind everyone should give preference to others, everyone pursuing not selfish interests but those of others.