Monday, January 07, 2008

An allegorical tale that isn't an allegory

There were rumblings of discontent. One of the leaders, a man of charisma, led the opposers. He claimed that the organisation was not doing what it had been created to do; it was deliberately heading away from first principles. Nothing the other leaders could say could convince him otherwise.

He left. Others followed him. There was great pain and sorrow on both sides of the divide. Some left the organisation to join the splinter group; some left to go elsewhere; some became so disillusioned they gave up entirely.

Gradually over the next ten years many of those who left returned. They realised that the things they were led to believe about the organisation weren't true at all.

So a happy ending? Maybe, except for those for whom the damage was too deep.

* * * * * * * * * *

Before our church split a lot of people stopped coming on Sundays because they were confused and unhappy. One evening during this time we had a guest speaker. His name was Jeff Lucas and he'd travelled from London to speak. He'd been invited a long time before everything had blown up and the leaders didn't want to put him off. I was amongst the very small audience who heard him. I have no idea what he said but I didn't stop laughing from almost as soon as he started until the end. It was wonderful to hear laughter in church again after a long time without it. It was just what we needed.

P.S. I meant to say that the point of this post is the old cliche, that nothing, however good or bad it is, lasts for ever (except perhaps The Sound of Music). And that - oh, I'm doing well on the cliches! - laughter is the best medicine!

7 comments:

Leslie: said...

My church went through the same thing - twice! I'm happy to say I found another church (small) with wonderful people whose eyes are firmly planted on the Lord.

MissKris said...

Seems like all churches go thru their ups and downs. You'd think church would be the one refuge from the world...but the church is full of people, and that's where all the world's problems lie anyway, ha! I have removed myself sooooooooooo far from the politics of it anymore...I go to listen to my 'spiritual food' and let it go at that. I almost left once, 9 years ago, and I have learned I need to keep my eyes focused on the good Lord, not the people around me. Took me a LONG time to learn that!

Shades said...

Funny this- I've just done a post about a 30 year old Schism and went looking for images, although the one I wanted wasn't available.

It was This one: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.weblogcartoons.com/cb/schism.gif&imgrefurl=http://my-manner-of-life.blogspot.com/&h=548&w=267&sz=7&hl=en&start=6&tbnid=auCSR_8055rhCM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=65&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dschism%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

There is a great blog from the cartoonist though with cartoons available for bloggers free use.

http://www.weblogcartoons.com/

He also does religious cartoons for church groups newsletters etc. (Cartoonchurch.com) it might be useful for you.

jmb said...

I went to the same church for over 30 years then it was amalgamated with another and I have never found the right one since.
Typical organizational problems.

James Higham said...

Liz, you need to read my post. The things which were said were very true and were only the tip of the iceberg as it turns out.

I'm hardly likely to leave my baby over nothing at all.

Merry Christmas to you today and to your family and may all work out well.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Thanks, Liz - you have made me feel better. x

Anonymous said...

I feel the need to comment somewhere as I've been catching up on some blog-reading. I say 'catching up' when stumbling about in the dark wondering who hid the light switch would be more apt.

When did blogging become so serious? Why is everyone giving each other such a hard time? One thing's for sure - reading all these confessing posts & unveiled accusations is NOT an antidote to January post-Christmas blues.

Yours is NOT a confessing post Liz but I gather it aims to allegorise a situation that has developed. And, like you say, humans are good at this sort of thing - destroying anything that was good. It began in the garden. I know you would never get embroiled in nasty things - that's why we met!

I'm off to read a book. At least that is a sensible way to spend an afternoon. I trust the goal posts won't shift while I'm reading it. Well, it is a hardcover copy so I think I'll be safe with it. Might be more careful about flimsy paperbacks until the blogging world settles down again.