This morning I flew the short distance from Memphis to Atlanta. I should say here that I truly hate to fly. Not a little but like a white hot supernova of burning hatred. It was 6am and, let’s face it, none of us is at our best at 6am in an airport. We were 160 or so strangers headed in as many directions. Some people travelled in couples or groups of three or four but most of us were that very American creature, the solo traveler.
As we filed onto the plane, looked for our seats and stored our carry-on bags, I could swear there were glimpses of the Kingdom working to peek through. Nothing so staggering that it would make the news or even be worth much notice. But taken together those little acts of kindness- offering to let a couple who were sitting apart sit together or giving up a seat toward the front to an older gentleman with a cane or helping a young woman reach her bag in the overhead bin- became greater in sum than they were in their distinct parts.
Alone, those discrete little gestures do not amount to much beyond the moment, but together they work to challenge our usual way of living together. The prevailing social contract that says “that is MY seat” or “get your own damn bag” is pushed aside and there is a sense that we are all in it together. So often we are seduced by the complexity of our world. We are seduced into thinking that it is only with grand gestures and momentous shifts in society that change can come. Those airplane moments remind us that within each seemingly meaningless gesture of kindness is the potential to change the way we live together even just a little bit. They are mustard seeds, and we know what Jesus had to say about those.
I have a suspicion that the Kingdom is going to be something like those airplane experiences. But with more leg room.
2 comments:
I'm kind of liking the concept of "kind-gom"!
That was a typo but a providential one!
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