Have you ever woken up with a stiff neck? For many of us, this stiffness quickly passes and then we’re back up to speed. But for others, you live with chronic and debilitating pain. This ongoing aggravating condition hinders your mobility and quality of life.
Some years ago, when I was traveling for a living, I had some neck and back issues. I self-diagnosed my condition. Too many beds in different towns with not enough sleep and exercise. I tried all sorts of pillows and sleeping methods, but nothing worked. A friend offered a word about chiropractic care. “What? No way.” My only experience with chiropractic was the wacky ways it was portrayed in TV and film with some big dude crackin’ your already sore neck, making things worse. It looked like a strange mumbo-jumbo. But after six months of debilitating pain and several other attempts to manage the pain, I had no other choice.
During my initial visit, the doctor explained what he thought was happening, showing me a model of the spine and how everything was connected – not only my vertebrae, but also the spinal column that flows through the middle of it all. A few things out of alignment were messing everything else up, too. “If any of this is out of whack,” he explained, “then the whole system is compromised.” Although independent parts and pieces within my body, all of these are dependent on one another.
This weekend, July 4th, is the time when we celebrate our independence as the United States of America. We grill brats, play backyard games, and watch fireworks as we give thanks for our freedom. Even as we sing and speak those words of freedom and independence, though, we also need to hear – we need to be reminded - about our interdependence. We, the Body of Christ, the human family, are one interconnected and interdependent body that needs an adjustment. Not an attitude adjustment – well maybe we need that, too – but we were created to live and move and operate in a better way.
We were created to rely on one another and God. Our interdependence is not an option. I need you. You need me. We need others. We need God. When we have a stiff neck or a calcified and unflinching heart, we aren’t able to fully embrace how God is on the move in our world. We aren’t able to recognize the needs of those around us. Instead, we spend all of our time trying to hold God in one place – right in front of us for our own purposes.
In the book of Acts, the first-century community needed a chiropractor’s touch. It may have begun in their necks – a stiffness making them unable or unwilling to look around and function normally – but by the time we get to chapters 6 and 7, the religious leaders were having all sorts of additional problems. They couldn’t turn their heads to see the need around them. As the paralysis lingered, they were losing any sort of perspective and weren’t able to recognize the continuing movement of the Spirit of God. Their inflexibility was obscuring their outlook on life and on what God was doing beyond their little circumference. God was on the move, but they couldn’t begin to see it.
I’ve always read this section as a harsh word from Stephen: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are forever opposing the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51). But what if, instead of a harsh word, it is a diagnosis? Could this be one sick person recommending a physician to others who are showing similar symptoms? This crick in the spine wasn't just an inconvenience that would wear off by mid-morning. This was a malady that was growing worse. It was preventing them from being able to live and move as they needed for just basic living.
I don’t know if you recognize any stiffness in your neck or heart, but I’m confident that God is eager to increase your range of motion and longing to restore you to wholeness. Jesus is freedom. What kind of freedom are you seeking? Freedom from failure and imperfection? Freedom from fear and hate? Freedom from anxiety and control issues? It may be a simple adjustment that gives you instant relief or it might be a long series of steps to health. Your dependence on Jesus and others is a gift.
Celebrating our dependence,
Pastor Lowell