Wednesday February 3, 2010
Start with the small
By Jim Taylor
The Olympic torch came through town last Tuesday. I didn’t see it. I was too busy flipping pancakes.
I’d better admit up front that I am not a fan of the Olympic Games. If the Games were simply about the world’s best athletes, competing with each other, I’d support them enthusiastically. But the Games have turned into a public relations circus, where only a nation’s medal count matters, with luxury suites for officials and ruthless enforcement of Olympic trademarks as sideshows.
The Olympics are supposed to generate great economic benefits to the host. I remain sceptical. Between cost overruns, shortages of snow, and exaggerated attendance estimates, I expect the rest of us to pay for these games for generations to come.
But at least 500 people didn’t share my dyspeptic outlook, apparently. They lined up along the road, two and three deep, to see the torch go by.
And before that, they lined up two and three deep for free pancakes, served by the local Rotary club – about five times as many as organizers had expected.
We weren’t supposed to start serving pancakes until 9:00 a.m. By that time, we had already used up our entire supply of pancake batter!
From chaos to cooperation
It was an instructive experience. Half an hour before the crowds started arriving, the kitchen was chaos. No one seemed to be in charge; no one had assigned tasks; everyone was in everyone else’s way….
Then the chaos settled into a remarkably smooth-running machine. Two people starting whipping up batter. Four of us ran the griddles, cooking and flipping. Another four or so filled plates and served customers. And a couple got dispatched to scour local grocery stores for extra supplies.
Miraculously, plates appeared at my elbow as the pancakes browned. Miraculously, as I emptied jugs of batter onto my griddle, fresh jugs materialized in their place.
And that’s only what I could see. I didn’t have time to see the people who provided coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and juice.
Showing the way
I’m regularly amazed – although I shouldn’t be – at how well people can work together when they share a clear goal. Whether it’s a pancake breakfast or sandbagging a river in flood, putting together a yard sale or digging survivors out of earthquake rubble, we each seem to find our niche and fill it without squabbling.
These micro events show us how people should work, could work, together.
Unfortunately, we tend to base our social structures on macro rather than micro models. We set up heirarchical lines of command, rules and regulations, centralized authority….
Perhaps an army has to work that way. A community doesn’t.
In reality, the lesser provides the focus for the larger. Not the reverse. Just as the Eucharist, the Last Supper, symbolizes how the institutional church should behave; just as the mortal Jesus reveals the nature of the immortal God; so a back porch gathering – not a speechifying parliament – illustrates the ideal operation of government. And a humble pancake breakfast demonstrates how people can work together in harmony and goodwill.
The key factor for community cooperation is not a rigid command structure but a shared goal and common purpose.
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Copyright © 2009 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups permitted; all other rights reserved.
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About My Books
Over the years, I think I have written (or ghostwritten) about 17 books. Several of them (mercifully) are no longer available from any source. But here’s a listing of those that are still available. The ones marked “WLB”, you can order from Wood Lake Books, either on-line at http://www.woodlakebooks.com, or call Wood Lake Books directly at 1-800-663-2775 in Canada, 1-800-654-5129 (Pilgrim Press) in the U.S. The ones marked “JT only” are now available only directly from me — as collector’s items, I price them all at $25 Cdn.
- Everyday God: Insights from the Ordinary
- Worlds in One
- Chance
- Seeing the Mystery: Exploring Christian Faith through the Eyes of Artists,
- Surviving Death
- Everyday Psalms
- Everyday Parables
- Letters to Stephen
- A New Understanding of Virtue and Vice
- Precious Days and Practical Love: Caring for an Aging Parent
- for Beginners
- Spirituality of Pets
- Charlene Fairchild’s United Online site,
- David Keating’s “SeemslikeGod” page
- The Canadian Centre for Progressive Christianity home page
- Dan Strizek’s Gathering Place for Creation Spirituality
- Alva Wood’s satiric stories about small town attitudes and bumbling bureaucrats are not particularly religious, but good fun anyway; write [email protected] to get onto her mailing list.
(1981 and 2005, WLB, $19.95)
(1985, JT only)
(1989, JT only)
(1990, with William S. Taylor, JT only)
(1993, JT only)
(1994 and 2005, WLB, $19.95)
(1995 and 2005, WLB, $19.95)
(1996, WLB, $17.95)
(1997, WLB, $19.95)
(1999, WLB, $19.95)
(2001, WLB, $11.95)
(2006, WLB, $39)
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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You can access several years of archived columns at http://edges.Canadahomepage.net.
I write a second column each Sunday, called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justic issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, at the address above, or send a note to [email protected]
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