The Wheel

The Church is like a wheel and each of us is a spoke that hold the wheel together as a wheel.  On the periphery, the spokes are far apart, one from another.  This is where all the disagreements, political, social, spiritual, and what not take place.  Here is where we are most likely to forget that we are all part of the wheel.  If one spoke goes, the wheel is less of a wheel.  So it does no good to say, "If you disagree with so and so, then just leave!"  Now in order to come to the center of the wheel, which in the church, is Christ, we have to somehow come closer together with one another, just as the spokes of the wheel come together.  For me, to do this, I have to love my neighbor.  I have to let go of condemnation, or stereotyping, labeling and fear.  Even the Twelve had differences of opinions that they would call "truth."  There was a zealot, fishermen, a tax collector, and a cynic.  Jesus sent them out two by two.  Why two?  So that people would see how they loved one another even where they disagreed or were of different temperaments.  People are drawn to Christ, not by our outside issues and differences, but by how we are at the center.  People watch how we are with one another, more than they listen to our words.