Box of Magnets

Every so often (though not ter­ri­bly often), I attend a min­is­ters meet­ing, con­fer­ence, or retreat. When­ever you get a con­cen­tra­tion of peo­ple from the same pro­fes­sion, you get an unusual social dynamic. It is like when you have a con­fer­ence of quar­ter­backs. They are com­pet­i­tive, yet share com­mon expe­ri­ences. The con­cen­tra­tion is con­trived. This many min­is­ters or quar­ter­backs would not nor­mally be in the same room. As the expe­ri­ence goes on, it is like shak­ing a box of magnets.

The first stage is when they notice their polar­i­ties. We pick up on the pref­er­ences, prej­u­dices, and blind spots we each have. The next stage has to do with align­ment and being repelled. There are com­mon points of view and diver­gent ones. The energy level increases with con­ver­sa­tion. The dis­cus­sions become a bit chaotic. There are some sur­pris­ing ener­gies that push peo­ple across the room (some­times even phys­i­cally when break time comes). Dynamic peo­ple and intense call­ings have capac­i­ties for extremes.

Shake the box long enough, and peo­ple line up. We acknowl­edge our com­mon call. We admit to our weak­nesses. Even­tu­ally, we all point in the same direc­tion. After all, min­is­ters are a sort of com­pass. Our job is to point to God and beyond our­selves. Much like other groups, we go from ego to task. This is why com­pa­nies have lead­er­ship retreats. It is hoped that the ego­cen­tric indi­vid­u­als involved will become cre­atively aligned.

Sun­day morn­ing is a lot like this. Peo­ple leave their var­i­ous rou­tines, then find them­selves sit­ting in one room. They are so dif­fer­ent, but they are so much alike deep down inside. Get­ting from super­fi­cial­i­ties to inte­ri­ors is quite a jour­ney. At first we look around the room with petty resent­ments, then we begin to real­ize a higher power and the greater call­ing. We tend to leave with a sense of sym­pa­thy and com­pas­sion. Com­pe­ti­tion and con­trol keynotes most for­mal and infor­mal events. Shake every­one up long enough and you have coop­er­a­tion and commonality.

In the cur­rent era of polit­i­cal and eco­nomic shakeup, the same cycle is in progress. Resent­ments sur­face. Fear sets in. Every­one becomes a com­peti­tor. As the cri­sis con­tin­ues, we align with hope. We real­ize that work­ing together is the only log­i­cal tac­tic that will work in the long run. We lay aside our ini­tial repul­sions and revul­sions and find ways to attract and align. Just shake the box long enough…