Day by day, as they spent much time together … they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generoushearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

Acts 2:46-47

The Chapel Chimes newsletter went out last night, and in my article I wrote about my favorite book by Jack London, The Call of the Wild.  I would like to share one more scene with you all.  I love the book because the protagonist in the story is a dog.  His name is Buck and he is very big and very smart.  He is new to Alaska and dog sledding, but he loves his new life and being a part of a team.  Things happen in the story, and the owner loses his lead dog.  When the owner realizes that his lead dog is gone, he notices that Buck is sitting in the lead position, ready to be harnessed.  The owner tries to move Buck out of the way, but he will not budge.  He then drags Buck to the back of the team and puts another dog in place that has seniority.  Yet this dog will not allow the owner to harness him and keeps dancing and moving out of the way.  Out of exasperation the owner finally acquiesces and yells, “Fine!  Buck, come up here.”

This book has been recently turned into a movie and my family and I watched it the other day. The visual is very powerful.  This is what happens.  Buck slowly walks to the lead position, gets harnessed, and all of the other dogs turn their heads to Buck in unison. The owner walks back to the sled and then Buck does something new. Buck crouches down and grinds his feet into the snow to get ready for the start. When he does this, all of the other dogs follow his lead, crouch down at the same time, grind their feet in the snow and get ready for the start. This is the first time, they are all working as one team and ready to take off. The owner goes back to the sled and his wife can sense that something is different with the team and says to her husband, “Uhhh…you might want to hang on.” He says nonchalantly, “Yeah. Yeah.” And when he yells, “HA!” The dogs take off like a rocket and they are flying! They are all so happy and in their element.

This reminds me of the early church in the book of Acts. The Christian movement had just got off the ground and it gained immediate traction. Everyone was happily working as one unified team. The early church had strength because they knew how to do coffee hours!  The scripture says that they met with each other on a daily basis, ate food and genuinely cared for one another.

Day by day, as they spent much time together … they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

Acts 2:46-47

Parkview knows how to do coffee hours, Spaghetti dinners, Seafood Fests, and on and on goes the list.  Parkview knows how to work as a team and to be in one accord.  However, Covid-19 is putting our community to the test. It is testing our patience.  It is hard not seeing one another and being in each other’s presence and breaking bread together. But Covid-19 does not have the last word.  Covid-19 may be testing us, but more importantly Covid-19 is a testament to our faith.

By staying together as a community and being in accord is testifying that the Church is alive and well.  It shows that we have vision for the future and that although we are not together, we are still together and we will be together some day.  So may we continue to be like the early church, a strong team and unified team, albeit, masked and six feet apart.