SOIL, SEEDS AND SALADS
We need to do the hard work of listening to each other. Let us be diligent to understand each other with the mind of Christ.
By Dr Tan Lai Yong
A few months ago it was just two patches of grass. Over the weeks, I have watched and admired Frankelites as they worked under the hot sun to create a vegetable garden at the Kampung Siglap Lifeskills and Retreat Centre. At times, I saw Tony, muscles straining under a heavy-duty hoe. Sometimes, the whole team would be squatting or seated on low stools - digging and planting. At other times, they are huddled in discussion. Sheer hard work. There would be times when Donna would guide newcomers. On a “non-gardening” day, Vanessa came by with tools and equipment. Thus the beauty and miracle of growth and growing together. From out of the scattered chaos of stones, weeds, gravel, sand and clay, the farmers grew beautiful lettuce, kale and bok-choy; neat rows of lovely greens. I often think of unity in organisational and procedural terms. Over these weeks, I am learning that unity is investing in the creation and in growth of new life.
These days, we hear of polarisation, online rebukes and the cancel culture. We get individuals and groups, even in Christian circles, taking sides of an issue rather quickly and quite harshly. Our polarised views on one or two matters divide us and prevent growth.
I imagine seeds sprouting, roots growing out to absorb precious molecules of water and minerals. Magnesium and salts flowing through the stems. Chlorophyll making sugars powered by sunlight. So the plant grows and matures – a living community of diverse cells, a thing of beauty and function.
“But I, brothers, cannot address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ … for you are still of the flesh,... while there is jealousy and strife among you... For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? … I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” (excerpts from 1 Corinthians 3:1-7, ESV)
And I pray that the good LORD will give our church good growth. We need to do the hard work of listening to each other. Let us be diligent to understand each other with the mind of Christ. Check our hands before we forward a frivolous or untested phone message. Check that our ears are tuned to hear. It is hard work to grow our unity in Christ but we are promised that we with renewed minds will reflect His glory (and not our vested opinions).
The Apostle Paul rebuked the church at Corinth for taking sides and digging in behind proud fences.
Note: Dr Tan adapted this article from his “Closing Thoughts” in Impact Magazine Volume 45 No. 3 (Jun-Jul 2021)
Frankelites working on the vegetable garden at KS
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