The Collective Power of the Weakest Parts
Consider a tree – it receives its best nourishment not from the most impressive and strongest part, the trunk. But the trunk is merely the highway of connectivity. When you look for where the real power of a tree resides, look to the thousands of tiny leaves, soaking in the sunlight and nutrients. If you can, pull up some of the roots and examine how frail and yet how essential they are in drinking up the liquid life that would otherwise be inaccessible to a starving tree. The tree, as the strongest organism in the forest, depends on the collective power of its smallest and weakest parts to survive.
Consider the Church – your mind may wander to huge mega churches, beautiful stone cathedrals, the might of the Vatican, impressive ministries, and the strength of over 2.1 billion adherents to the Christian faith. Or you might see another side of the tree, corruption, scandal, hypocrisy, opposition to social change – but unarguably still obstinately strong.
But where does the real power of the Church reside? Where does it soak up the light of Christ, hear the voice of the Spirit? Where does it drink the liquid life of the relational God? It is in the smallest of relationships. The Life Transformation Group. The church of two (CO2).
What seems to be a weak and frail community is the context to daily seek God together. Maybe this community is only 2 people – maybe it never grows beyond three. But the intimate communion found there, both with each other and with Christ. This is where confession happens, where a culture of transformation is developed…or not. This – in the context of a mutually self-disclosing relationship – is where the truth of God is unpacked and lived out.
Notice how leaves are rarely alone on the branch of a healthy tree. It’s genetics call out for a community of leaves – of light receivers – to daily…continuously…soak up the light, and yet don’t keep it to themselves. They are connected to the others also receiving and sharing light.
Who are you on the branch with? Who is your band of brothers and sisters? Do you have a friend who knows you through thick and thin, who knows your darkness and anticipates your shared light? Who is helping you brace for the winds, storms and cold nights?
What does this relationship look like? Regular, daily, intentional awareness of one another – at more than a surface level; more than (but not exclusive to) sports scores, news, or weather. It does not have to be a long conversation, or tear-filled prayers. But it does have to be an honest sharing of mind…AND heart.
Many churches live in the mind quadrant (preacher-centered worship, rows of noses). Many others live only in the heart (emotional dalliance, exclusively inward-focused). Both neglect the full human. Allow a real human relationship to be the center-piece of your faith.
So find your spouse, a best friend, a sibling, or someone you look up to in the faith, and learn how to share the light together. Practice the “one another’s” of Scripture. Reveal your fears, joys, thoughts. Learn to lead each other into the presence of God – learn to lead from a step behind – because it is truly Jesus who is in your midst point you to the Father. Bring something to the table every day – a Scripture, a feeling, a song, a prayer, a picture. Invite your comrade to celebrate that light together – and to ask how God might be revealing himself today.
This is the stuff of community – the thing Christ died for – to bring us back into communion with God and by proxy to each other. You will soon find yourself connecting to the largest tree in God’s garden – a family bigger and stronger than any cathedral, any nation, or anything else in all creation.
