ARE YOU THE BAR OR THE NET?

A friend was telling me about his world the other day.  He commented that in his professional world people are expected to be perfect.  To master a particular body of knowledge perfectly and to learn how to present this material without error.

I was thinking about that comment the next day and suddenly I had this image of a trapeze bar and the circus net below.  The expectation of perfection, the refusal of even the possibility of a mistake or error, is deciding to live life as a trapeze bar.  It's narrow, hard to hold onto, and one slip and you're gone.

We've all either been around perfectionists or we have demanded error-free performance from those around us at work, home, on the baseball field, or at church.  There's no margin for error.  There's no talk of learning from failure and moving on.

So some people are the bar.

And then there are some people who are the net.  The net represents grace.  Grace catches us when we get it wrong.  Grace keeps us from being destroyed by failure.  Grace softens the landing, even though everyone  -especially us!-  knows we didn't get that particular move right, and invites us to try again.

I hunch you know some people who are the bar.

I am sure you know some people who are the net.

Who will you be?

Will we be a congregation full of thin, metal bars where if a person slips they're gone?  Or will we be a community of faith where even as we strive for excellence beneath everything is the net...is grace?  If that is who we are called to be then what does that look like as we live it out?

One stormy day (or night) on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus and the disciples (Matthew 8:23-ff.) were crossing the lake.  Jesus went to sleep in the bottom of the boat.  The disciples woke him up screaming, "Lord, save us!  We're going to drown!"  Their faith and confidence disappeared in the face of a strong wind.  Jesus offers them a mild rebuke as he says, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?"  The Galilean then calms the wind and the waves.  It's a learning moment.  Their collapse in fear is a learning moment, but Jesus doesn't write them off or leave them a mean note the next morning.

The bar or the net: who will we be?

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher