What will we do with our long spoon?

At the beginning of Bible Study today, I was reminded that it is once again the time for the DIA’s showing of the Oscar Nominated Short Film Festival.  No, I have not been to see them, but the contest brought to mind a short film from 2014 called “The Allegory of the Long Spoons.”  Click the link to watch it: it is only about a minute long.  What you will see is a group of people sitting around a chasm with a bowl of soup at the center.  Each person has a spoon, but the spoons are too long for any person to feed themselves with it.  As they grow frustrated with this, violence begins to erupt.  At one point, one person’s spoon is broken in half and no longer has a hope to feed themself.  At this point, one of the other people shows compassion and tries to feed him with her own spoon.  It is a long reach, but the spoon can nearly reach him…except that she begins to shake as if she will drop it and fall herself into the chasm.  At the last minute, she is supported by the others who prop up her spoon. The film ends with all of the people feeding each other rather than trying to feed themselves.

For the past few weeks, I have been trying to come up with an example to use to demonstrate how decentering oneself can be a way to find new life.  The short film above came to mind along with the film, Pride (2014).  Pride tells the real-life story of the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners movement in 1984-1985.  As it is told, a lesbian and gay group were seeking out a way to gain more public awareness of their group and their cause.  One member, Mark Ashton, had an idea: rather than focus on their own cause of gaining more society acceptance, they would instead focus on the struggles of a group of miners that were striking.  Mark Ashton, Mike Jackson, and their friends collected funds at the 1984 Lesbian and Gay Pride march in London and established Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM).  The money they raised, over £22,500, went straight to supporting the families of the miners on strike.  The group gave the miners their unconditional support without an expectation of reciprocal support.  Because of the LGSM’s support, the miners would go on to win their negotiations.  Later on, the miners’ labor group began to support and attend Pride events through the UK, including leading London's Lesbian and Gay Pride parade in 1985.  The miners would then use their political power to support the passage of LGBT rights in the UK.

In worship on Sunday, I discussed how Northminster was not itself the Good News (i.e. the Gospel).  Northminster might be a place where the Good News is found and where people might experience it, but the congregation itself is not the Good News.  That also means that we should not be at the center of what we do.  At our Annual Meeting, we looked at our numbers from 2024.  While we are doing decently with finances, we ended the year with 56 members.  It is tempting to make gaining new members the focus of what we do; but I would argue that we need to learn from the paradoxical examples above and the parable of the long spoons.  As long as we are only trying to feed ourselves (i.e. only concerned with gaining new members), we will slowly starve as violence breaks out.  People will have no interest in a church whose only concern is its own survival.  Instead, as we begin to consider where God is leading us this coming year, I would have you all consider to whom we can extend our long spoon.  Who is hurting that we can support?  How do we center Good News that is truly good to hear?

Blessings,
Pastor Chris