Sermon Preached at Northbrae Community Church, July 6, 2003

by Ron Sebring

The Power of the Few

Over the holidays, Connie and I had some time at home.  I took advantage of that time to go though some old boxes and organize a bit.  Since our move, we’ve had things in boxes occupying a corner of the garage.  Things you just can’t throw away, but that take up too much space to keep.  Boxes of old books, and stacks of unsorted papers.  Clipped magazine articles and long forgotten projects that were never finished.  In going through a stack of unsorted papers, I came across a picture.  A young girl in her 20’s from my former church.  Having been in this church for 18 years, I watched her grow through her adolescence.  She was a troubled teen who gave her parents much grief – ran away from home, committed to the hospital for clinical depression, addicted to drugs.  Her parents were stable and wealthy, and gave her a wonderful home. They did everything they could for her. – still, life didn’t work for her. 

She was stopped one day for speeding.  She had illegal drugs in the car, and instead of being caught, she swallowed them.  And it took her life.  As I stood there looking into the eyes of this youth … a picture taken in her happier days … I relived some of my own grief.  Pastors grief in their own special way … this was one of the most difficult funeral services that I have ever conducted.  And I pondered:  As her pastor, was there anything I could have said or done that might have changed things? And made a difference? Was there anything her church could have been that it wasn’t, that would have made it a redeeming presence in her life? I realize that our teens get out into a world and fall under many influences. They enter worlds over which we have no control.  Parents and churches can’t be all things for all our children.  But it is the nature of grief to raise these questions, and rationally done, it’s a healthy exercise to do so. 

It is the church’s responsibility in a society to be the think-tank for beliefs, the inspiration for faith, and the repository for morality.  It is the church’s responsibility in a society to tell those stories that convey the best paradigms for living the good life.  It is the church’s responsibility in a society to hold up those models, those torchbearers, that best exemplifies inner peace and outer harmony.  In our society, churches (and other religious institutions--synagogues and mosques and ashrams) enjoy a tax-exempt status.  We have fire protection, and police protection; we use roadways to conduct our operations and enjoy the privileges of corporate status (owning property, etc.).  But the church pays no taxes for all this.  The rest of the community supplies these things and sustains our churches standing tall on the street corners of our towns and cities. [TOP]

I’ve often wondered why?  In the evolution of our society, perhaps it is expected of churches to represent something for the community, or give something back to the community.  Perhaps it is the sense of community itself, and the moral structures upon which law and order can be based.  In any case, I do believe the church has a responsibility to society.  And when I looked into the eyes of this troubled teen, it brought all these questions back for me.  How "response-able" are our churches? 

Jesus tells the story of the sower who went out to sow.  The Greek word used means to ‘broadcast’ seeds. That’s a method of sowing where the sower takes a handful of seeds and just throws them in a wide arc, casting them to the wind.  Some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came along and ate them.  Some seeds fell on rocky ground where there wasn’t much soil. They sprang up, but because they didn’t have much depth of root, they perished.  Some seeds fell among thorns, and while they grew, there was too much competition around them, and they were choked out.  Some seeds fell on the good soil.  They brought forth grain in varying amounts … some produced in abundance. Some just a handful. 

The parable puts no value in comparisons here, taken together, they all made for a bountiful harvest.  Jesus was allusive with his parables.  They were meant to hide their meaning. As the text says:  So by seeing, they would not see, and by hearing, they would not hear.  Perhaps this allows much room for pondering and a wide range of applications.  If the church’s offering to the society in which it finds itself is the seeds, then our question is twofold:

• How do we choose the kinds of seeds we want to plant?

• And how do we ‘broadcast’ them? How do we scatter them?            [TOP]

While Northbrae discusses much about what we believe and what we stand for … there is paradoxically a pretty solid recognition as to what that is.  It is diffuse, but at the same time, substantial.  As many of our members bring back to us when the visit around – they recognize the value in other expressions, but also sense what is special about Northbrae – as hard to define as that may be.  Where perhaps we have a bigger issue is how do we broadcast our seeds?  While  our brochure and the new design for our Webpage (now in  process) speak to this, there is much  more to consider.  How do we make our contribution as church to the community of which we are a part?  Not just in services rendered, but in the sharing of our ideology, our approach to the spiritual journey.

During the recent SARS epidemic, I was struck by how so few cases there were in comparison to the total population. So few, to have created such worldwide concern!  It’s because scientists know the power of the few.  If an epidemic finds its opportunity, its critical mass, it will explode, and the few become the many.  Scientists have studied epidemics and have discovered some amazing principles.  Things about the infectious agent and how it changes, and the flux of the environment in which the exposure takes place.  Epidemics spread according to identifiable rules and patterns.  Researchers have compared how epidemics spread to how ideas and fads and trends emerge and propagate.  This is of great interest to advertising.  For if a product can find an opportunity and become a fad, it will sell on its own, by word-or-mouth … the most powerful means of advertising.

The Harry Potter phenomenon is a case in point.  But the same dynamic applies to all kinds of things.  Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book, THE TIPPING POINT, explores word-of-mouth communication, how trends and fads are born and how they spread.  His concern is how little things can make a big difference.  It’s the notion of how the twig is bent, so grows the tree.  Or how a tiny match can set ablaze a whole forest.  In his book, he illustrates his point with the ‘Hush Puppies’ phenomenon.  Hush Puppies are brush-suede shoes, an American classic.  In 1994, they were a failure.  Wolverine, the company who made them, was phasing them out because the idea was a flop … no sales.  Then a handful of youth in East New York had a party.  Because no one else wore them, they showed up at the party wearing Hush Puppies.  In 1995, people wearing Hush Puppies started showing up in bars and clubs in downtown Manhattan.  Within the next year, it was a nationwide fad.                                                      [TOP]

Now how did that happen?  The kids who showed up at that party didn’t intend to start a nationwide trend.  Malcolm Gladwell explores that question: the critical mass, the proverbial 100th monkey, the pattern of spread through the "six degrees of separation," – to find what he calls, the "tipping point."  What determines the point at which balance is tipped and an idea explodes? There are three laws, true in all epidemics and fads.

1. The Law of the Few

2. The Sticking Factor

3. And what he calls, "The Power of the Context."

We’ve already seen how Pastor Robinson handed over a letter to 30 plus pilgrims before they took a boat ride on the Mayflower.  How a single letter took on a life of its own.  It just took 30 plus pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact, and it gave the nations of the world a new approach to government: democracy based on equality and justice. That simple idea has changed the whole world.  There is potential power in every little thing we do. Every meeting. Every discussion about life or religion. So it behooves us to give it our best, down to the finest detail.

As Ecclesiastes says: cast your bread upon the waters, and you will find it after many days.

 © Ron Sebring                                                                                      [TOP]