God Bless the Best Boy

“Now to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” 1 Corinthians 12:7
Last night my wife and I watched the annual Hollywood event featuring the highest rollers in entertainment known, to most, as the Academy Awards! It was a stunning event last night with 10 Best Picture Nominations and a program that was classy in an old Oscar sort of way. The dresses were long and elegant and the stars looked, well, like stars! And the program was appropriately light and meaningful.

The awards were taken by a variety of people too. A variety of people took the awards too. Everyone from Sandra Bullock to the Special Effects team of Avatar to the makeup designing team of Star Trek. It was quite a mix!

One thing I noticed, though, was in all of this there were countless people that were never mentioned on whom a typical movie rests. Not one of the actors or actresses thanked “the crew”, the best boy, the grips, the sound guy, or their personal assitants. There was no award for the best casting director, the best coffee fetcher, or the best grips. All those “in charge” of things were awarded, but no one who actually did the work.

It shouldn’t surprise me. After all, most people take for granted that the average 2 hour movie has over 200 or more people working on it! More if you consider special effect movies. The less you see people on the screen, the more people are working behind the scenes. And yet there is nothing for them. No “congratulations”. No big award. Just the calm assurance of a job well done.

We might think the same at church too. After all, there is the pastor and, at times, a few others up in front of people. There are council members who give their time and take a more public leadership role, but for the most part, most people stay behind the scenes.

And yet, it may surprise you, but church isn’t church without them! Paul speaks of this in his letter to the Corinthians. “On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.”
In other words, the church rests in the hands of the background people. Those people who make coffee at church and greet people at the door. The ushers and the acolytes and the worship assistants. The crew who maintains the church and the crew that chooses songs. The women who make sure the kitchen is stocked and the kids who come in just to worship and color pictures.
We are not a church where Stars parade down our red carpets in their fancy dresses, posing for pictures at certain opportune moments, and saying things that they really don’t mean. We’re a church for the nobodies. A church for the weak, the lost, the lonely, the sick, the sinful, the imprisoned, the abandoned, the lame, the blind, the handicapped, and the wanderer. We’re a church for the least, the little, the lost, and the dead. At the front of our church is our Star, Christ Jesus, who, though we claim is God, lived a peasant’s life, was a transient without a home, and died a criminal of the State! We are not a church of the Stars, we’re a church of the Crew. A church of and for those in the background who never get even a thank you in life.

And that’s okay. For Christ died and rose to save us. And though we may never get recognized in this life, though we may always live in the background of life, someday we will sit together as the whole people of God at a ceremony that dwarfs the Academy Awards to celebrate the marriage of Christ the Lamb of God! May that day come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.