Some years ago I attended a high school graduation ceremony. As the students filed
in, I could tell that things In the midst of this confusion the stage was cleared for a fan dance by a group of oriental girls in the student
Have you ever been to a shopping mall with a skating rink and watched as a beautifully
matched couple skated
The same ingredients that hold cultures together hold God's people together. The same mystery that causes birds to
The two staffs joined together are a picture of the cross of Christ. The upwards staff, Grace, represents our Caring, seeking, healing, and sustaining are acts
of grace that produce unity. How much we need them today. When
Many are saying that God is judging His house and this nation. He is tearing
down the handiwork of man so that He It is no longer enough to simply go to the ceremony and compete
for recognition. We must pick up the staff of grace We will enter the dance.
had changed since last I had been to a graduation.
While the school board member was giving a speech, a beach ball
was bouncing around
and sent spinning through the air by the students. The valedictorians put on a comedy routine
and a quartet sang out of tune. It was like listening to a band in a parade that
had never practiced and was
unsure of where it was going.
body. The curtains opened and the atmosphere changed to awe and amazement as these
exquisitely dressed young
women put on a demonstration of grace and unity. The audience, which had paid little attention to the previous
ceremonies hushed, then suddenly
awakening began to applaud, as 12 fans moved in perfect symmetry as if the
twelve
were one. For five minutes we were transported to another time and another culture
while the rewards of
order, discipline, commitment, and community were playing out before
our eyes. As I watched the rest of the
ceremony, I was impressed that what I had
seen did not come out of the girls' school experience, but out
of their cultural
heritage. The perfect unity of the dance had transformed the ceremony.
around the rink? Many shoppers will stop all that they are
doing to watch the precision moves of the skaters as if
reminded of something eternal. The same holds true of a formation of birds. In the case of one variety, when
one bird
cannot keep up with the flock, others will drop off and fly with it 'til
the tired one has a chance to recover and then
rejoin another flock and fly again
in perfect order. Like the fan dancers, grace and unity are at the heart of any
group or
species' chance of survival.
fly in symmetry causes the people of God to mirror Christ in the earth.
Just as the graduation ceremony was confusing
and without direction until the fan
dance, so are our activities for God without Grace and Unity.
"And I took for myself two staffs; the one I called
Grace and the other I called Unity; so I pastured the flock."
Zech. 11:7
relationship with God based on the Grace He has given us unconditionally. The horizontal staff, Unity, represents our
unity with each other here on the earth. In the passage in Zechariah, the Lord eventually cuts the two staffs in pieces
as judgment against His people who have sinned so greatly against Him and each other. He then describes the
changes their actions are bringing upon them (the wicked shepherd that will follow) instead of the blessings
He wanted so much to give them.
every man goes to
his own tent and every ministry is in competition against the other, we sin against
one another, the
enemy devours souls and there is no dance. Unity is what shows the world what God's heart is really like.
Without the
dance all that remains is the ceremony and the contest. Like
the gladiators of old, we can attempt to survive while
one species, race, ethnic
group, political cause, church denomination is pitted against another, until we are
swallowed
up in the cacophony of this world's system.
can be revealed. Like the graduation
ceremony, it is not enough to have the shadow of what the event once was. We
must
have the substance. In the same way it does not please God for His church to have a form of
godliness and deny
the power thereof. There is a divine dance. The Holy Spirit
is the choreographer.
and the staff of unity, put aside
selfish pursuits, and focus on Jesus. As we receive HIs grace, our little hearts are
broken away to allow the emerging of God's heart, the heart with no walls, no limits. Then we will sense the Holy
Spirit inside of us rising up against the
winds of adversity, criticism, and apathy.
Charles E. Smith
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