Reviewing a sermon offered at UUCT a few years ago, I found thoughts that are important to share now and again...
“The circus is coming to town! The circus is coming to town!
Look here come the wagons pulled by outsized working horses. See here’s a billboard telling us about the wonders the trapeze artist can perform. Hear the elephants trumpeting, and the lion roaring!
The circus is coming to town! Queue up to see and hear and taste all the marvels of the circus...
The circus of romantic memory was a combination of exaggerated feats and ignored labors. It was hard on the animals and humans that worked in it; and delightedly fascinating for circus goers...
The circus would never have happened if it weren’t for the thousands of hours of training and practice that prepared acts for the main event. So, too, in the church as circus, the big top and the side-shows and all the other activities of the week need the support of many who are willing to learn how to participate in and lead discussions – over coffee and after services, for newcomers, and for those with specific interests. It means we need to be willing to develop gifts we may already possess as teachers, leaders and listeners. It means that learning never ends, and listening always begins anew with the next conversation. Preparing to lead (and participate in) services, discussions, and classes will meet your needs because there is a truth to the observation that whatever isn’t green and growing, is ripe and dying. You came, and you continue to come, to this congregation because there is a need leading you forward into more discovery, more accomplishment, more and stronger relationships with the people of this church.
In the church as circus, caring for the simple, elemental needs of the people is a high calling. There are no great performances in the circus if the high-flyers haven’t been fed. No one wants to enter the lion’s cage when the lions are famished. Everything in the church as circus depends on nurturing each other – literally and figuratively. In the literal sense of the word, we need to feed each other when trauma or disaster strikes. We need to care about the privations some experience and make ourselves available to help. We can’t turn aside when one of us is in need; because our circus depends on the health and safety of all. The roustabout and the clowns, the ringmaster and the daring lady on horseback share the same needs, and the church as circus asks that we address the needs of all – for the good of all.”*
* an excerpt from Under the Big Top, Robin Gray
