Unity

Illustrations taught in church today:

One Armed New Student

A children’s Sunday School class was interrupted one day as a new student was brought in. The little boy had one arm missing.  The teacher, who’d had no opportunity to get to know the child’s story, nor to ask how well he responded to other children asking about his disability, felt ill at ease throughout the class. What if one of the other children were to tease him or call him names? 

As the class drew to a close, the teacher began to relax. The new arrival seemed to fit right in.  She asked the class, then, to join her in the familiar game, “Here is the church, here is the steeple…”  As she watched the children put their hands together to make their little churches, she remembered – to her horror – that her new student would not be able to do this.  She herself had done the one thing she’d feared the children might do: make the new student stand out as different.

The little girl sitting next to the one-armed boy knew just what to do.  In a calm, matter-of-fact way, she reached out her own hand and placed her palm up against his.  “Come on,” she invited him, “let’s make a church together.”

House of Many Lamps

There’s a legend of a church built in the southern part of Europe during the 16^th century called the “House of Many Lamps.”  The architect provided for no lighting in the sanctuary. Instead he built in a holder at every seat for those attending to place their lamp.  If someone were missing from an evening service, their place would be dark.  If many stayed away, there would be very little light in the sanctuary. The regular presence of each person lit up the church.

The Roots of the Redwoods

The huge redwood trees of California amaze mankind. They are the largest living things on earth and the tallest trees in the world. Some of them are 300 feet high and over 2,500 years old. One would think that trees so large must have a tremendous root system that reaches down hundreds of feet into the earth. But not so! The redwoods have a very shallow root system. If one was to get down on his knees and examine the redwoods’ root system he would find that all the roots intertwine. They are locked to each other. When the storms come, the winds blow, and the lightning flashes, the redwoods still stand. They are not alone for all the trees support and protect each other. Each tree is important to all the other trees in the grove.