1 Corinthians 12:22-26
Topic : 1 CorinthiansSolidarity
On February 29, 1964, about 150 Christians were gathered for a service in the house of Aleksandr Gushcin in Barnaul, Siberia. All at once, five swearing, half-intoxicated officers broke into the meeting and ordered them to disperse. Instinctively they huddled closer together, forming a human barrier between the uniformed men and their pastor. Angry and frustrated, the officers forced some of the Christians out into the cold night and herded them into a waiting truck. Just then the pastor shouted, “Wait! If you are going to take some of us, you must take us all. We’re one family. What happens to one will happen to all!” Of course, the police vehicle was too small for everyone, so the whole group marched behind it until another truck was sent. The ordeal ended at the Region Executive Committee building with all 150 members singing praises to the Lord. The solidarity of these believers was so bewildering to the authorities that they released them a short time later.
Resource
- P. Brand, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, pp. 38ff
Rule of Corporate Life
Vaughn’s Rule of Corporate Life: The less important you are on the table of organization, the more you’ll be missed if you don’t show up for work.
The Parade
Don McCullough writes in Waking From the American Dream: “During World War II, England needed to increase its production of coal. Winston Churchill called together labor leaders to enlist their support. At the end of his presentation he asked them to picture in their minds a parade which he knew would be held in Picadilly Circus after the war. First, he said, would come the sailors who had kept the vital sea lanes open. Then would come the soldiers who had come home from Dunkirk and then gone on to defeat Rommel in Africa. Then would come the pilots who had driven the Luftwaffe from the sky. Last of all, he said, would come a long line of sweat-stained, soot-streaked men in miner’s caps. Someone would cry from the crowd, ‘And where were you during the critical days of our struggle?’ And from ten thousand throats would come the answer, ‘We were deep in the earth with our faces to the coal.’”
