And yet, and yet…

I was thinking today on the nature of Institution. Our world is filled with them, from churches to governments to schools to friend groups. It is our nature to establish relationships and pathways that last, to make tracks on the world that others will follow. But in thinking about institutions today, I remembered the Spirit Stick.

A few years ago I was tasked with emceeing our church’s Kid’s Bible Week (which we call VBS). I am absolutely not a hype man, so true to my nature I procrastinated on thinking what I would actually do when handed a microphone to stand in front of 300 plus kids (along with their leaders). On this particular year, it occurred to me about 30 minutes before we were about to start that I hadn’t thought of anything.

As I leaned back perplexed on how to gin up “being fun.” I noticed in the corner of my office a walking stick. I can’t remember where I got it or why it was particularly there, but I had an idea. I quickly ran over to the youth ministry area and appropriated (i.e. stole) a bunch of random ribbons, different kinds of duct tape, and some streamers and taped them to the walking stick. This metamorphosis revealed the Spirit Stick! I summarily went out on stage and started the groups doing cheering contests to see which group had the most spirit. It was a tepid attempt at creating excitement, but so it went.

Flash forward 5 years to today. I was standing in the back of this year’s VBS which has almost 500 kids and one of our kids’ leaders brought out that old walking stick with the ribbons and began challenging the groups to win the Spirit Stick. Immediately the roar (or really train-powered screech) that erupted was deafening. And throughout the week the kids have marched through the hallways bellowing their spirit chants, singing about being inchworms and bees and various other insects. (Side story: I tried to persuade the Beetle group to sing Yellow Submarine for their cheer, but I don’t think that took off.)

Out of an offhand, post-procrastination attempt to gin up some excitement, I created an institution that now has 5 years under its belt. Who know but that in the year 2045 the old Spirit Stick might still be making the rounds?

In our lives, we often look at institutions as necessary or burdensome, the infrastructure of what we do or the adversary of progress. It’s important for us to remember that anything that is an institution today is just an idea from yesterday. They serve for their time, they pass when a better one comes along. We live under the presupposition that institutions never change, yet they exist because of a previous change.

The existence of institutions is an opportunity to dream, to build, to grow. If we cling to these paper pillars and supine Spirit Sticks, we may find ourselves crumbling as time moves on. But as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and grow us under the direction of Holy Scripture, we can build on the shoulders of those who came before. We can rise upon ruins as we create the pillars of tomorrow.

And always remember: your flippant choice today might be someone else’s infrastructure tomorrow. Choose wisely.