Go fly a kite!

Yesterday I was looking through YouTube videos and discovered this video of 80-year old kiter Ray Bethell of Vancouver, British Columbia, flying three kites at once. It was amazing to see him maneuver those kites into perfect formations.

Kites work by understanding and applying a combination of forces that include lift provided by constant wind and tension caused by the line held by the kiter. It seems Mr. Bethell has perfected the art of balancing those two opposing forces to be able to put on this beautiful show. If one of Mr. Bethell’s lines broke, he would lose control of the kite and it would fly erratically before plummeting to the ground.

It occurs to me that our Christian lives are sometimes lived with this kind of tension. We are pleased Jesus has set us free from the bondage of sin to soar in liberty. Yet successful Christian lives are lived in tension with forces that keep us balanced and accountable. Though we don’t always like it we need this tension and the stabilizing force it brings. Without it we would soar out of control, liberty would become lawlessness, and we would come crashing down.

The limiting tension that holds the kite in line is authority. Meeting his disciples on a mountain in Galilee, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” and he proceeded to appoint his men to recruit disciples, baptize them into the name of the Trinity, and teach them what he had taught them. Empowered by the wind of the Holy Spirit, they would need tension to keep them focused and flying right.

I have observed that God has given us at least three applications of authority that provide counter balance to the free wind of the Holy Spirit to keep us balanced and effective.

The first is authority from the family. God created the family first when he placed Eve with Adam in the garden and told them to multiply and fill the earth. I believe the family is still near and dear to God’s heart as a means of cultural stability. The Fifth Commandment emphasizes this with its directive to “Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).

The healthy tension of family means living in responsible ways. We honor the teachings and legacy of the previous generation and we pass them to our children. We respect and care for our elders and we love and care for our children.

Another authority comes from civil government. Paul observes that “there isn’t any authority unless it comes from God, and the authorities that are there have been put in place by God” (Romans 13:1). Paul said this, of course, referring to the brutal Roman regime under Nero’s command. Unpopular as it was Paul reminded them the government was there as God’s servant to keep civil order and to punish wrongdoers.

The tension keeps us in order so that we are conscientious of others and have orderly and appropriate means of addressing things that go wrong. We also have an orderly way to make decisions for the common good and affecting all.

The authority that affects us most when we gather to worship or work in Jesus’ name is the authority of the church, established when the church was born at Pentecost. It began with apostolic leadership provided by the men who had followed Jesus, and developed from there.

In the same way Judaism was to be governed by teaching and observing Torah, the church was founded on the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. In other words, their teaching of Scripture would be passed down.

We Methodists understand that apostolic teaching in four ways. Scripture is by far the most valuable authority. But there is also great value in tradition, handed down from the early leaders who were closer in time and culture than we to the Scriptures. Their interpretation and application through practice and example should not be overlooked. We also employ reason to analyze, discuss, and apply biblical teaching to our context. Finally, we consider our experience and the experience of others as to how things have worked.

The tension keeps us from slipping into error and holds us accountable to right practice as well as right belief.

There is an important thing to remember about how authority works in the kingdom. In Matthew 20 the mother of James and John approached Jesus with a request. She was Jesus’ Aunt Salome, his mother’s sister. She asked if her two sons could sit on his right and left in the kingdom.

The other ten were indignant. Jesus said to them, “You know that those who rule the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around. But that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave” (Matthew 20:25-26).

In the kingdom authority is there but not enforced. Responding to it is completely voluntary. We choose our own path by either listening to authority and cooperating with it (even when feel the tension rubbing against our liberty) or resisting it because we believe we have a better way. We choose blessing or cursing by choosing to cooperate with or resist authority.

How do we apply this? For me it is a matter of considering how I relate to the authorities in my life, both as one under authority as well as one in authority. Then I look to Jesus, what he said and what he did.

We live in tension between liberty and authority, just as that kite flies in tension between the uplift of the wind and the resistance of the line. Understanding and cooperating with that tension allows us to fly beautiful patterns for the glory of God’s kingdom.