CERN (The European Centre for Nuclear Research) in Europe just fired up their brand new, $8 Billion Particle Collider in Geneva. With a 17-mile magnetic track it is by far the largest such device in the world. In a few months they will begin experimental collisions with the energy of 7 Trillion Electron Volts. No one has come even close to this scale.
As is often the case with cutting-edge science, fears have been raised and doomsday scenarios posited. A very small minority of scientists have raised concerns that this machine could create small black holes or weird, unknown, and dangerous radiation. In response to that, the scientists designing the Large Hadron Collider (as it is known) have pointed out that their experiments are simply replicating events that happen naturally. Their physics models (the one's being tested and developed by this collider) show that any black holes that do get created will rapidly decay and will not endanger the earth.
Still, I can't help but feel a little nervous. I'm reminded of the scientists that thought a nuclear explosion would cause a chain reaction that would ignite the entire earth's atmosphere. I'm also reminded of an intense and vivid dream I had a few years ago in which aliens were drawn to the earth after sensing strange radiation emanating from a large collider. In the dream, I traveled to the underground research facility and repelled the alien invasion with cunning and a 12-gauge. Oh, and I also had to defeat the Secret Service, who thought I was there to harm the President (who taking a photo op with the new Collider). It was such an exciting and vivid dream that it's still one of my all-time favorites!
No doubt the collider is a convenient carrier for the usual anxieties I'm feeling about ministry. Today I received an anonymous note attacking the mural and my taste--I wonder whether it is the same person that tried to insult me over the internet a few months ago? A buddy-in-arms called me while I was stewing over this nasty note I got and sensed something was wrong. When I told him about the note his response was appropriately short and curt: "If it's not signed it's not worth a ****." Ah, the Zen Master speaks! The student listens to the wise Master.
So much of leadership is figuring out who's opinion you should listen to. I mean, you should hear everyone, but not everyone's notions should carry equal weight when you are making decisions. I know, that seems obvious, but in practice it becomes much more complicated. Try holding your ground when people actually leave the congregation over it, for instance.
-t
1 comment:
re "anonymous note attacking the mural and my taste"
Your taste??!! Considering that Christians are saddled with one of the most tasteless of foundational "myths" among religions, surely it is not possible to be really "tasteful" in visual representations of it.
Anyway much food for thought in those last two paragraphs. While I was happily congratulating myself on not being as other men and never sending anonymous notes myself, I realized that once I had done exactly that! Oops! Thanks for letting us see how that feels from the other side of the Communion rail.
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