Observation of a Sculpture

Whilst on holiday, we stopped for an ice-cream in the cafe of the museum we were in. The cafe had 4 kind of sculptures in the form of vertical columns, 1 in each corner of the room which appeared to be made of wood. All of us were really amazed by them and my son asked daddy if he could take a photo of one. We took a photo of the least complicated one, purely because that was the only one that no one was sitting in front of. The “branches” seemed to twist and turn, sometimes supporting other branches and then sometimes being supported themselves by other branches further up the column. It just made me think that this is the way that God wants his church to be.

Everyone has been given a purpose by God and although all purposes are given by God, they are all unique to each individual. Although God gives His work to individuals, He never intends for us to carry out that work in isolation – that is why He provided “the church” as a family for us.

Each branch seemed to represent a person’s life. As the person grew, (both taller (older) and hopefully, closer to God), you could see the way that persons life had developed with each twist and turn – maybe difficult choices they had had to make, difficult circumstances they had had to overcome, a new stage in their life that they had arrived at and I’m sure that you can think of many other examples. In everyone’s life, there are times when the individual is strong and can offer support to other people they come into contact with, whilst at other times, for many different reasons, sometimes they also need to receive support themselves. The whole sculpture seemed to scream out at me that this is the way that God intends his church to be – to be united in purpose (reaching out for God together), staying close to one another (unity), to be there for each other and to provide and receive support from each other. Some branches were strong (fat) whilst other branches were weak (thin). The whole structure just couldn’t work if some branches only supported but never in turn received support themselves. Likewise, if some branches only ever received support but never gave support to others, the sculpture would be horizontal and not vertical (possibly reaching towards this world instead of God?)

Some branches only cross paths once whilst others weave through each other many times just as God brings some people to be a part of our lives only briefly whilst others remain close for many years. Even people who may be physically isolated from the church eg in prison for their faith, can still remain supported in prayer by the rest of the body of Christ.