I remember years ago someone telling me that, when you're talking to your kids and you want to help them understand something, try bending down and speaking to them at their level.
Rather than speaking from above them down, speak with them, eye to eye.
Now, I don't do this perfectly. But I've certainly seen what happens when I get down and I'm eye to eye with one of my kids having that conversation.
It's almost like their shoulders come down a little bit. They're less defensive. And it becomes a conversation. Rather than me just saying “Hey, I'm just telling you what to do”, we come to conclusions together. And we realise together that there is probably a better way forward.
Well, have you ever thought about the stage in the church? And how, in so many ways, it's us speaking above everyone else down?
Peter talks about this really beautiful thing in his first letter where he's talking about the priesthood, or as we've called it, “the priesthood of all believers”.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
—1 Peter 2:9
What he's getting at is that we're this spiritual house, built by God. And in this spiritual house, we are the dwelling place for the spirit of God. It's no longer going off to some place. We don't need a call on God to come to us wherever we are. We have the promise. We live by faith that Jesus is with us through His Spirit.
And what's pretty significant about that is that prior to Jesus, a priest was set apart. A priest was this one individual that was speaking on behalf of the people of God. And now Jesus comes along, shows himself as the true priest, the final priest, and calls us into his work.
We are his little priests throughout the world. It doesn't matter if you are a seven year old or a 97 year old. You have been built into the dwelling place of God. You have the spirit of God speaking through you. You are able to speak wisdom, and truth, and direction, and clarity, regardless of age.
I think sometimes, when we have a stage (or a platform), it can cause us to lift and elevate the people on that stage. We take their words and we hold everything they say as “this is exactly what it is”. And we see those people as people that can't mess up. People that are almost superhuman.
But the stage can start to corrupt those who are on it too, because they themselves, begin to believe that they too can't be too vulnerable. We can't let people see certain sides of us because now there's this expectation that people are “looking up” to us.
I've certainly experienced this in myself, and other leaders in my life who have let me down as well as others in the community.
What if instead of “the stage” we, at the very least, put time into our services to remind people that just because somebody is on this platform doesn't make them more of a significant presence or influencer in the kingdom of God.
—Citizens
Now maybe it's not [practically] possible to get off the stage and onto the floor in front of people and sing.
But what if instead of “the stage” we, at the very least, put time into our services to remind people that just because somebody is on this platform doesn't make them more of a significant presence or influencer in the kingdom of God.
That while we may have a specific task to lead people singing, that every person in this congregation, every person in this gathering, has a specific ability and opportunity to tell your story. To be present in this world. And to sow into the earth.
To sow good news. To remind people that the King of Israel, who is the king of the earth, has come and is making all things new and setting things right.
We don't need a stage to do that. We can do that eye to eye. Brother to brother. Sister to sister.
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