|
|
|
Have you ever been in a situation when you wanted to make a good impression on others? No doubt there are times when we don’t care what others think of the way we look or the way we act. But there are times when we really want others to see the best in us. As a young pastor I remember being late to a large meeting of clergy. I peeked in the door and my heart sank. Not only was I late, and I hate being late, but our superintendent was talking. AND the chairs were in a circle with no chance of walking around them. AND the only available chair was at the far end of the room. I had no choice but to walk in front of 30 pastors and the superintendent! I swallowed hard and made the plunge. Sitting down I was relieved to have made that difficult journey. That’s when the pastor next to me whispered, "XYZ." I said, "What?" He repeated, "XYZ." I had no idea what XYZ meant. Then he said, "Examine Your Zipper!" It’s true. I had crossed that room with my pants zipper all the way down! Sometimes people will not see us as we want to be seen. People see us as we truly are; with our zippers down, our hair unkempt, and our mouth unchecked. This is part of our human situation. What others see is not who we truly are. They misunderstand our intentions, our words, and our actions. And sometimes we cannot control this misunderstanding. There are times when people will see what they want to see in us no matter how hard we work to let them see a different image. Sometimes we feel responsible for every other persons’ image of us and expend great amounts of energy to protect that self-image. And there are other times when we simply need to learn that we were not meant to control what people see in us. I have a little visual experiment for you. On the wall there is an image. I’d like you to stare at the four dots right in the center of the blob for about thirty seconds. Concentrate all your attention on them, don't look away and let the dots be all you see. (Wait 30 seconds) Now let's all close our eyes. See anything? Do you see it? Isn't it amazing how a seemingly meaningless collection of little dots can actually be leading up to such a startling image? All of us are always seeing a lot more than we think. Under hypnosis, people can remember the license numbers of cars that passed them in the street or the eye color of a salesclerk who had waited on them three weeks ago. Even when we're not consciously aware of it, our minds are taking in thousands of little pieces of information, processing them and creating from these fragments our general impressions of life, our basic concepts of reality. When Jesus rose to read the Scriptures in his home synagogue in Nazareth, the people gathered there were seeing a lot more than they thought. Even though these worshipers were impressed with Jesus' learning and reacted to Jesus' words with amazement, they could not take to heart what he was saying. In Luke 4:22, immediately after Jesus announces "Today this scripture has been fulfilled ...," the synagogue murmurs, "Is not this Joseph's son?" Jesus could not be the Messiah. He was just the boy down the street now grown up. Because this congregation could only see a "dot," one tiny aspect of Jesus' being, they could not see his true image as the Son of God. The challenge for us is to look at the pattern of "dots" that makes up the image we present to the world. Consider that each time we respond to anything in life, our reaction is just one tiny "dot" on an otherwise blank sheet of paper. Over the course of a lifetime, our paper becomes filled with dots. If every experience we had in life was registered as a dot, what kind of pattern would those dots begin to form? Stewardship of the earth is one of the dots we create with the way we live. When I was pastor of Soldotna United Methodist Church we would go hiking with a family in Soldotna. I noticed they would take a plastic bag with them and pick up trash along the trail. Here was a family who was making the right kind of dot to form the pattern for how God wants us to live on this earth. As the people of God we need to take steps to help us make sure that as many "dots" as possible, reflect the living presence of Christ in our lives. If the church is the body of Christ, then each one of us is a "dot," a part of the composite image of Christ that the church presents to the world. When people look at all of the many and diverse dots that make up St. John United Methodist Church, what do they see? Do they see Jesus? Here are four practical ways to help others see Christ in us. 1. Make every stranger you meet glad to have met you. Have you ever known a person whose presence in any group made everything else different? Someone who, when he or she entered a room, made the spiritual and moral climate of that room better, who lifted the mood and spirit of that meeting? Why not make it a matter of principle that no one who ever comes into your presence will leave worse, only better? 2. Bring peace to every meeting. Medical doctor Gerald Jampolsky wrote a book called Love Is Letting Go of Fear. In it he asked this question: "Have you ever given yourself the opportunity of going through just one day concentrating on totally accepting everyone and making no judgments" (97)? Try "not keeping score of wrongs" for one day. Dr. Jampolsky adds: "Everything we think, say or do reacts on us like a boomerang. When we send out judgments in the form of criticism, fury or other attack thoughts, they come back to us. When we ... send out only love, it comes back to us" (99). 3. Look for the good in people. There is a lot to be said for the old saying, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." When you become conditioned to look for some good quality, some strong suit, and admittedly sometimes it's a bit of a challenge, it is surprising how much easier it gets. Carl Coleman was driving to work one morning when he bumped fenders with another motorist. Both cars stopped, and the woman driving the other car got out to survey the damage. She was distraught. It was her fault, she admitted, and hers was a new car, less than two days from the showroom. She dreaded facing her husband. Coleman was sympathetic, but he had to pursue the exchange of license and registration data. She reached into her glove compartment to retrieve the documents which were in an envelope. On the first paper to tumble out, written in her husband's distinctive hand, were these words: 4. Look for the image of Christ in all of creation. Ignatius once observed: "Consider how Christ works and labors for me in all creatures upon the face of the earth." If Christ labors in all creatures, then Jesus can be found in every aspect of creation: The family cat who awakens you in the morning; the birds who sing on the fence; the flowers that spread their fragrance over the garden; the rain forest of South America and the mountains of Alaska; the child playing in the schoolyard; the homeless man fumbling for aluminum cans… all sharing in the image of Christ, and therefore, both our responsibility and our joy. The body of Christ is brought into focus for this world one tiny dot at a time. Every Sunday we pray for God’s kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven. This kingdom will come one dot at a time, one Christian at a time. For each of us who can manage to reproduce the image of Christ through the way we "love and serve the Lord" in all we do and say, that picture of Christ grows a little clearer, a little sharper each day. And we may not have to say a word. A hundred years ago some men were panning for gold in Montana, and one of them found an unusual stone. Breaking it open, he was excited to see that it contained gold. Working eagerly, the men soon discovered an abundance of the precious metal. They began shouting with delight, "We've found it! We've found gold! We're rich!" They had to interrupt their celebrating, though, to go into a nearby town and stock up on supplies. Before they left camp, the men agreed not to tell a soul about their find. Indeed, no one breathed a word about it to anyone while they were in town. Much to their dismay, however, when they were about to return, hundreds of men were prepared to follow them. When they asked the crowd to tell who "squealed," the reply came, "No one had to. Your faces showed it!" What kind of dots are you making? Are you producing dots that lead people to see Christ, or is your life and lifestyle painting a different picture for the world? What are people seeing in the dots of your life? Maybe this coming week others will be able to see Christ in your words. Maybe this coming week they will even be able to see Christ without your words, for the pattern of Christ-dots will be written all over your face. |
The St. John Web Site needs your input! Click here to leave feedback Copyright © 1998-2004 Jon S. Dawson. Last modified: February 01, 2009
|
01.25.04 - Connect the Dots (Luke 4:14-21)
