Tied up in knots
At present I am working through an evening series at church on a ‘spiritual toolkit’. We are looking at things such as ‘reading your Bible’, ‘prayer’ and ‘sharing your testimony’ with an emphasis on practical application and experience. Most times the church has been reconfigured to accommodate this – sitting in the round, gathering round tables and visiting prayer stations.
Last night I was due to preach on ‘maintaining fellowship’. I had elected to preach on this from Romans `12 v. 3 – 13, but wanted to retain the interactive element. In the first half of the sermon we looked at v. 3 – 8 and Paul’s injunction to ‘play the game’ of fellowship to the hilt by exercising our God-given gift with enthusiasm. Paul measures commitment not by time (as we often do) but by passion and enthusiasm. Does the encourager encourage for all she is worth and the giver give as if it were his highest calling to do so? We noted that v.8 is the only occasion on which Paul attributes showing mercy to a human being rather than to God, and wondered what ‘cheerful’ mercy might look like. When it comes to performing your particular role to the hilt, we thought Apple had something to offer.
After a song, we looked at a graphic of my Twitter connections, and then left our chairs behind to stand in a circle. Out came the string, and the game began.
- It starts with one person saying (for instance) ‘I am John, and I have a brother.’
- Everyone else who has a brother then puts up their hand and one of them is selected.
- That person then says (for instance) ‘I am Gill, and I have a cat.’
- This process is continued until a mesh is formed across the circle.
- We then tried rolling a ball and passing a balloon across the mess.
Back in our seats again, I asked how the game had gone. People said that it worked better the closer they stood to each other, and that it worked best when everyone held onto their bit of the web really tightly. This led us back into Romans 12, verses 9 – 13. By rights, Christian fellowship ought to be impossible, with its collection of diverse and imperfect people. Like the game, it only works where we stand close together and each plays their part. In these verses Paul talks about the attitude, rather than the actions, which make fellowship possible: sincere love and patience amongst them.
We concluded with the bidding prayer which I wrote for the occasion below. As the service drew to an end and people started to drift away, there was a lot of laughter and people were still talking about the way the game had made them think. As ever was – someone had to clear up the mess - but maybe that it typical of Christian fellowship too!
Before and after
A bidding prayer for unity:
Father God
We thank you for the diverse body of the church
For short and tall, small and great, rich and poor.
Lord, we thank you
We thank and worship you
We thank you for every reflection of Christ in them
Sometimes shattered, like shards of a broken mirror reflecting a prefect sky – but reflections all the same
Lord, we thank you
We thank and worship you
For the sister who has been strong when I have been weak
For the brother who has been gentle when I have been clumsy
Lord, we thank you
We thank and worship you
For kind words which have mended a wound
And forgiveness which falls like rain on parched earth
Lord, we thank you
We thank and worship you
Help us, today – to see more of you in each other.
Help us to see you behind the frown
Help us to hear you behind the bluster
May we learn a new vocabulary, taught by your spirit
Whose grammar is love, whose punctuation is peace and whose meter is mercy
Lord, we thank you
We thank and worship you
