A Dot Sheet God

The sun shines down on 200 high school students as they stand scattered across the football field. The track around the field is littered with band instruments, water bottles and sunscreen containers.

The voice of the band director booms out of the public address system in the stadium. “Find your place in set nine. Set nine. Then take a seat as soon as you are certain you’ve found your place.”

200 heads look down at laminated sheets of paper. Lips move silently as each individual reads a specific coordinate and tries to picture where they are supposed to go. Heads pop up to verify yard lines and hash marks before eyes return to the coordinate sheets. Feet begin pacing off carefully counted steps. Section leaders quickly find their place and then turn to help the new members and those who continue to have trouble translating a coordinate into a physical place on the football field.

LEFT 3.25 steps inside 35                  12.75 steps in front of home hash

Students begin sitting and a picture begins to emerge on the field. A few groups of huddled students remain standing, trying to figure out where the last two members of their section are supposed to be. Band directors and Drum Majors look at charts that show the whole picture and use measuring poles to adjust those members who believed they could accurately estimate by eye the number of steps to their specific coordinate.

When everyone has found their place the director’s voice comes over the PA again, “Everyone stand up. Place your music at your toes and go back to your place in set eight. You’ll have sixteen counts to get here.”

The move is practiced twice and then the music on the ground that marks the new spot is picked up and the move is practiced a few more times without anything but memory. Students are reminded to march in a straight line from one position to the next and to take the full number of counts to get there. When five or six sets have been put on the field the students get their instruments and the music is added. A typical marching band show will have anywhere from 45-65 sets depending on the band and the music.

As I start my fifteenth year in marching band (8 as a student, 7 as an instructor) I am still amazed at the way 200 individuals come together to complete one show. Each person marches their own unique pattern on the field. No two are alike. And yet when you watch from the stands it appears to be one unified picture. Geometric shapes expand, contract, rotate and flow into new forms giving visual form to the musical arrangement that is being played.

But I’m also aware that six weeks from now the students will be tired of the repetition. School work, stresses at home, the demands of part-time jobs, and other activities will bring tension to the field. Short tempers cause rifts in relationships. Some students will be more dedicated than others. Differences in ability will become more evident. All these things will need to be overcome if the group is to reach its full potential.

This is often how we think a church (or any community) should ideally function. Each person is critical in the success of the whole. When someone struggles with their part someone is there to encourage and assist them.  Broken relationships are mended and people are motivated by a shared goal. The hope is to build an amazing community that moves together in synchronized rhythm.

The problem is that we aren’t given individual dot sheets with coordinates that tell us where to go next or how long we need to stay in one place. I think most people wander around searching for the right place. We might stay in one place for a while before moving again. Too often the song that we play doesn’t match what those around us seem to be playing. And while there are many people willing to tell us where we should be going and what we should be playing there doesn’t seem to be one unified vision even among people of the same faith. It can be very frustrating.

So does God prefer this kind of “scatter drill” where everyone appears to be wandering around aimlessly but in the end everything comes together in one unified picture? Or is there a specific plan for each person where any deviation from this divine will angers the immortal arranger who insists that we get back in line?

What if God isn’t either of these? What if God is like the people who first saw patterns in the stars or like a child who finds pictures in random cloud formations? What if God sees the beauty of life in the apparent chaotic actions and interactions of our lives?  Is it possible for us to see that too?