“The Center of Everything”
A friend of mine attended a Promise Keepers gathering in Atlanta several years ago. It was an assembly that represented hundreds of different church groups and denominational affiliations. They heard speaker after speaker. After a while he said the messages all seemed to blend together.
But there was one moment he will never forget. Author and Pastor Max Lucado stood at the podium and made a simple request: “On the count of three would you please shout out loud the name of your church tradition with which you are currently associated?” They all proclaimed their affiliations. My friend was lucky because all he had to shout was “Presbyterian!” The guy sitting next to him had to say, “The Church of God of Prophesy Incorporated!” What everyone heard echoing through the large assembly hall was an undifferentiated blob of sound.
Then Lucado made a second request: “On the count of three, would you please shout out the name of whom you have entrusted your heart, your soul, your ministry, your hopes for this day and your confidence concerning tomorrow?” There rose in unison, the sound of just two syllables that filled the entire dome: JESUS.
In the moment that followed my friend said there was absolute silence—not an easy thing to accomplish in a group of 40,000 Pastors. It was as if the leaders of God’s people, so frequently at odds with each other over the most trivial of issues, were suddenly struck dumb by the realization that they had always had in common ever more than they had allowed themselves to imagine. It’s amazing how complicated we can make things.
May God give us the grace to find each other, day by day, at that simple intersection: The name which is at the center of everything.
Faithfully, Ron Naylor, Chaplain