“We who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:5)
We are all interconnected and are in this thing together.
The sooner we realize that, the better.
In the introduction to their book “One Anothering,” Dan Crawford and Al Meredith wonder if you have heard “the goose lesson”.
Geese flying south for the winter usually fly in a V-formation. This formation adds at least seventy-one percent greater flying range, because the flapping of one bird’s wings creates uplift for the bird immediately following. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the flock, and another goose flies point. Geese honk from behind to encourage the lead goose. If a goose gets sick or injured and falls out, two geese follow it down to help protect it. They stay until the fallen goose is able to fly or is dead, and then they join another formation and continue their journey. Should a goose fall out of formation, it quickly feels the difficulty of flying alone and returns immediately to the formation.
You and I are so interconnected, we might as well have slots and tabs.
No man is an island.
One day recently Donald Trump spouted off about the Mexicans coming across the southern border of the U.S.A. He spoke disparagingly of these people known as “illegal aliens” and advocated constructing a solid wall (not a fence) to separate the two countries.
He had the right to say this.
However, his exercise in free speech may end up costing him a ton of money.
A lot of people with ties to Mexico were offended and moved quickly to distance themselves from Mr. Trump.
First, a Hispanic television network announced it would not be airing the Donald-Trump-owned Miss USA Pageant from Baton Rouge this weekend. (How does one ‘own’ a beauty contest? I think I have found my next career!)
Then, NBC decided that telecasting the pageant would be a mistake for them also, so they canceled their scheduled broadcast.
Next, entertainers and emcees bailed out and would not be working in the pageant. Last I heard, only one person has remained on board to host the show.
Mr. Trump promptly put his lawyers to work on this. His legal team filed lawsuits right and left, beginning with the networks. I imagine they’re looking around to see who else they might drop a suit on. Mr. Trump is no shrinking violet.
Lesson: Even if you have the right, watch what you say.
Even if you have the freedom to speak your piece, you still may want to consider the cost.
Complications abound. Everything is interconnected. You address one issue and touch a hundred more in the process.
Politicians learn this quickly. A man who has held no higher office than city alderman decides to run for governor or senator. Previously he could say what he pleased and no one cared or noticed, but these days reporters are capturing his every word. Suddenly, the funny stories he has told at a hundred civic luncheons and neighborhood coffees, jokes that never failed to lay them in the aisles, are being analyzed and twisted, and he is being branded a racist, an idiot, or perish the thought, a religious fundamentalist. The local media attack him. Even his friends are quoted as saying “Perhaps he’s not ready for prime time.”
Welcome to the big leagues, sir.
It’s why politicians employ PR teams.
Pastors learn this.
Someone shows the minister an ad from a local supermarket. “Bring in your Sunday bulletin and we’ll give the church 2 percent of your total purchase.” Sounds good to the unthinking preacher. So, next Sunday he announces it and encourages everyone to shop at Jungle Basket in order to help the church. The reaction is immediate. Before the congregation empties the building, the pastor has heard from a deacon who owns Grocery Haven and two ladies who work at Pantry Market. “Preacher, you trying to put us out of business?”
I once ran a note in the church bulletin suggesting that people not waste their money on flowers for funerals, but dedicate memorial gifts to missionary causes. The owner of a flower shop was quick to react. The owner of a funeral home, who just happened to have a floral shop next door, also let me know he read my column.
Our new church administrator noticed that the church was making a half-percent less in interest at the Bank of Commerce than the Savings Place was paying. “Shall I move our money?” Without a thought, I said, “Sure. Move it.” Later that morning, the president of the first bank called. “Joe! What’s going on? You folks unhappy with us?” He pointed out all I had to do was to call him and his bank would have kicked our interest up half a point. Then, I noticed several of our deacons were on his board. Oh, my. Not good. (We moved the money back to Commerce. I didn’t need the grief.)
In much the same way, the effects of sin branch out in every direction.
What seems a private act may actually touch hundreds.
The adulterer thinks this is a personal thing between him and that sweet young thing who has been making eyes at him; he surely loves his wife and family, but this has nothing to do with them. The embezzler intends to pay the money back; no one need ever know. The fellow with the secret addiction to alcohol or drugs is able to function well, he is confident, and his little habit affects no one but himself.
Sin is like the ripples in the lake coming off a stone tossed in from the shore. They go on and on and on….
Take the story of Achan, found in Joshua chapter 7.
As Israel moved into Canaan, conquering as they went, they were told to destroy everything. Everything seemed to have gone well with Jericho, as the fabled walls fell and the city was taken easily. However, in the next town–a micro-kingdom called Ai–an overconfident Israel was handed a surprising defeat. When a panicky Joshua sought the Lord on this, he was told “Israel has sinned.”
In the ransacking of Jericho, a fellow named Achan had secretly taken “a beautiful cloak, 200 silver shekels, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels,” and hidden them in his tent.
Achan had seen this as a private matter. He would take these things, no one would be the wiser, and he could do some good things for his family. What the preacher doesn’t know won’t hurt him.
However, because of his sinful act, the nation was defeated at Ai, and Achan’s entire family was executed, along with everything they owned. It’s a tragic story that illustrates vividly how one man’s selfish act touches the lives of so many others around him. Achan’s family line ended there on that day, which means future generations of his descendants were never born. Heaven alone knows the full and complete effect of his sinful act.
All of which brings to mind George Bailey. Everyone’s favorite Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” drives home the point that one man’s life touches another.
No man is an island, said the British cleric John Donne. It’s worth printing the entire piece….
No man is an island, Entire of itself.
Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were; As well as if a manor of thy friend’s Or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
The simple fact is if Donald Trump or you or I were to repent of the foolish things we have done and said, and were to humbly ask the forgiveness of all we have offended and set about to do the right thing, the ripples from that would reach out in every direction also.
The ramifications for a good deed are far-reaching. My prayer this morning, my offering last Sunday, my kind word yesterday, these are still reverberating.