Watch & Wonder
Descending on Charles Bridge each Sunday of advent is a small but tall procession of angels. The angels glide across the bridge, white-gloved and occasionally ringing their hand bells. Standing over eight feet tall, they command both wonder and apprehension. Something about their particular height is confusing to the eye. Much taller than a human form, but not so tall as to dismiss them as some sort of puppet or parade float gimmick. They are, in fact, acrobats from the “Long Vehicle Circus” who specialize in stilt performances. Last I saw them, what I noted was the reaction of the people among whom they mingled as they strode elegantly and ethereally onward.
Young children were mesmerized and afraid, invoking something akin to those reactions we find in scripture when humans meet angels. It embodied to me those same emotions so oft described in the gospel of Luke. Some might call Luke the ‘gospel of amazement’ for the reason that Luke wears out the Greek language in describing the state of awe and amazement and astonishment people have in observing the works of Jesus. To the children, the gliding pure white angels are a thing of wonder.
To the parents and middle-aged such as myself we scramble for context and meaning, trying to make some sense of what we are observing. Who are these angels? Why are they doing this? What are they trying to accomplish with this procession? I don’t see a collection box. I wonder how much that guy is getting paid for this? How long does it take to learn to walk on stilts like that? Where do they store those giant wings all year?
The elderly observe the children, deriving some sense of joy from their astonishment by proxy. Others stare through the scene, finding anchor for their eyes in neither the angels nor the people, They, in their own way, absorb the spectacle like one might imbibe a cup of cider on a cold day, noting the warming feeling but spending no energies in queries of from whence the apples came or the spices that compose the flavors, such questions have long since been answered. For them, it is either nothing or everything. It is jaded ambivalence, or embraced appreciation of life and the buzzing of the hive still encircling them.
From the wonderers to the watchers, the longer the Lord tarries I come to love the people in the seasons of life that are passing both in front of me and behind me. Particularly in our ministry of church planting, we come to realize how essential each part is in creating a balanced and thriving community of people doing life together. The tendency it seems, is toward imbalance, in church-planting anyway. There is always some demographic being more served, more attracted, or more represented. I don’t know if this reality is altogether wrong. It’s just the way it tends to lilt, mostly by natural factors like the age of the pastor or the demographic already present. My heart longs for the balance. We need the wonder and energy of youth. We need the wisdom and steadying hand of our elders. We need the purpose-minded analysis and management of the middle. They say it’s unfortunate that youth is wasted on the young, but it’s an equal tragedy when wisdom is wasted on the old! Wasted energy and wasted wisdom are each a pity of their own sort. Might I encourage you, if you are young, to use your energies with the oversight of the wise? Submit yourself to your local church and the boundaries and accountability in ministry they might provide. As one who has been there and done that, can I tell you that drawing outside the lines is usually minimally useful and dare I say, overrated? Your dreams are amazing, as were ours at your age, but the energies of unbroken and unbridled horses are exercised in waste. It is vanity.
If you are senior and you have retreated to your own smallish corner of the world and community, you are wasting the wisdom and experience life and God have dealt you. What a tragedy that you have endured and grown in all the ways that you have, and yet are not investing into the next generation what you have learned. What vanity indeed.
If you are in the middle, and you are spending all of your management skills and perspective in building your own kingdom, what foolishness! What are you building for God’s Kingdom? Are you doing your part, to bring together the people, both the energetic dreamers and the wise advisors to harness the potential of your church and your community for the glory of God and the gospel?
