Of Men and Microcosms

Few people know this and probably fewer people even care, but when yours truly was attending Allan Hancock College as a twenty year old sophomore, I announced to one of my teachers my intention to obtain a Ph.D. in Sociology. I even made careful (though completely misguided) plans to chose a California State University Campus that would not require me to change venues during my undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate studies.


The reason I mention that is that in the prerequisite studies for that degree, we learned about microcosms. Microcosm is defined as "A world in miniature." By extrapolation, anything that is a smaller model of something larger could be considered a microcosm. We often say we are in our, "own little world." Our own little worlds intersect each other's "own little world" and the sum of them is a larger world. That really is not quite as confusing as it sounds at first blush. Perhaps it is easier to grasp if we say that our society is made up of each of us individuals coming together to form a larger community. Without stretching the point too far that makes each of us a representation of our culture, society, or community. That is not quite the idea of a microcosm, but I now either have or have not completely lost your attention.


For those of you who are still here, let us consider governmental representatives as a way to understand what we are talking about here. Without mentioning any of them by name, we are represented in various governing bodies by duly elected officials from our geographical area. We have city council people, county supervisors, a state assemblyman and senator as well as United States Senators and a Congresswoman. Each one of them are individuals representative of each of us individually and collectively. They cast votes for various things in our place. They do what we would do if we were there ourselves. (Ok, I know that is not always true, but the point is still valid.)


Now, suppose you are one of those representatives because any one of us very well could be. All it takes is the right political machine and enough money. In fact, I ran for county supervisor in a faraway land, many, many years ago. I got a few votes, but not really enough to cause much of a ripple in the election. The local newspaper did run an editorial saying they did not think I should be allowed to run, but that is another story entirely.

So anyway there is, of course, a point to this exercise. Do you remember the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch? (Acts 11:26) Christian was a derisive term when first applied to those disciples, those followers of Jesus. The people of Antioch were mocking the disciples as people who followed Jesus. Of course, they did not themselves believe that Jesus was the Messiah. What they were saying is that each of those disciples was a little Jesus, a microcosm if you will. When we think about it, that should be considered quite a compliment. Oh to be like Jesus! Talk about influence.


Now, think about what people see when they see you. Do they see Jesus? If they call you a Christian are they saying it derisively or admiringly? Do they notice your love? The Bible tells us that we Christians will be known by our love. (John 13:35) There is a man in my program who is having the most serious struggle I have personally ever witnessed over whether to make Jesus his Lord. He knows he will have to give up something very dear to him because Jesus would not approve. He also looks at Christians and is baffled by the way we sometimes think and act. He sees the contradiction between Bibilcal Christianity and those who call themselves Christian today. Dare I use the term hypocrisy? Perhaps you have run into people like him?

We have to be honest, there is a lot to dislike in the modern church. It often bears little resemblence to what Jesus left upon his ascension. Sometimes we almost want to ask, "What was He thinking when He left the church to sinful men?" If you have read much of this blog you probably expect me to say something like, we need to tap into the spirit more, "...be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18) as the scripture says. Actually when read in the original language, the phrase is, "be being filled with the the Spirit." It shows continuing action. Unfortunately, most of us, yours truly included, spend way too much time doing what seems right in our own eyes. How is that working out for you? You may be doing fine on an individual basis, but I will quote my pastor here. "We are trying to move from it's all about me to it's not about me at all." Oh, by the way, I did just say it.

I just heard some great news over my back fence yesterday. Apparently there is a man of some, quiet influence in town who is taking it upon himself to organize some focused prayer activity. I am going to look up an email address for him and send a link to the blog. Will you excuse me? I am pretty sure I hear the Holy Spirit calling.