My family loves to watch 'Survivorman' and 'Man vs. Wild' on Discovery. Each Friday evening, we get pizza and gather around to watch what these two guys do as they survive in various parts of the globe. I've learned some interesting things. 1. If you're lost, get shelter, water, fire and food - in various orders depending on where you are surviving. 2. Go slow. 3. Keep working toward survival, because work itself gives you hope. I also learned to cook grasshoppers before you eat them, because they can carry tapeworms, and that brightly-colored insects will usually make you sick.
The big lesson, though, was one my mom taught me and the survivalists only confirmed: after you cut the head off (a chicken, an insect, a snake...) the rest of the body will continue to move around for awhile.
I don't want the Church to succumb to that fate. We can move for a long time without connection to Christ, our head. But our movements are the movements of a dying creature, futile and leading nowhere. Our primary goal as the Church is to be connected to Christ through prayer, worship, holy communion, Scripture study and discussion, fasting, giving alms... These are the tasks we focus on as we live on earth. Everything else flows from them. We can't change ourselves - to center our lives on changing ourselves or others leads only to futility and frustration.
When we stay connected to Christ, our head, when we abide in the true Vine, then blessings flow, life flows through us into the world. We are transformed in the process, and so is everyone and everything we touch.
I'm glad I know how to boil water in a plastic bottle, how to build a fire, how to make a simple shelter in this good creation of God's. I'm more convicted to turn off the TV, and this computer, and spend some time with the Source of Life.
No comments:
Post a Comment