Several years ago, vertigo raised its ugly head with me while I was teaching a youth Church School lesson. The trip to the hospital and subsequent treatment and therapy took a full four months before I was cleared of this issue. To this day, I must be mindful of the trivial things that can provoke it like being tilted backwards too long in a dentist’s chair, sudden head movements and be ready to do the basic therapeutic exercises to realign my sight and balance when it tries to show up in even the slightest of ways. Lately, I have been experiencing some sort of ear problem that has not been like vertigo exactly, but it has created the imbalances and sense of echo in my hearing that has made me to pause and examine what is going on, slow down and take care of myself.

For those unaware of what vertigo is, it is an inner ear syndrome in which the nerve endings that control balance fall off their nerve strands and collect in a corner of the inner ear. The nerve endings are so small they are not detectable by any means of Xray, ultrasound or MRI. The treatment is typically doing exercises that tilt the head and basically sweep the nerve debris away to regain one’s balance. When I was diagnosed with vertigo and going through treatment and therapy, I was drawn to 1 Corinthians 12: 16-26 and Paul’s discussion of how the less glamorous parts of the body are given more honor in God’s sight to maintain the health and well-being of the body. The discussion is an analogy of how God fits spiritual gifts together in the church. The realization that nerve cells in my ear could disrupt my entire sense of balance brought into a heightened focus the importance of honoring and encouraging all Christians to seek and serve in their unique spiritual gift set. Spiritual gifts always interested me, and I believed whole heartedly in the concept of all members being attuned to their gifts, but in this particular moment in time, as a somewhat green pastor, I gained an even clearer sense of the importance of spiritual gifts and appreciation for all members of a church no matter what they were doing or not doing in the church. 

Fast forward to the past few weeks, while I know that the current issue is not vertigo, it is disrupting my life to a degree, and I am reminded of the same scriptural passage with another layer of importance. This time, in addition to seeing it as an analogy of engaging all church members with their various gifts and talents, I see it in the broader picture of social justice and disparities. When we overlook the “least of these,” do not stand up for what is right or leave it in the hands of others to make changes, we are allowing the debris of these issues to pile up in a corner of our society and over time there will be an imbalance that disrupts everyone’s life. Vertigo.

In Paul’s analogy discussion of the body, he points out that no one part of the body is more important than the other. This is God’s intention so that when one part of the body falls short of its duty, other parts of the body will compensate. We see this at work in many of our other-abled friends and family. The blind have a more acute sense of hearing or smell. The deaf have a keen ability to read lips. Amputees often find that other limbs and body parts learn to accommodate what is lost, etc. Take a moment and marvel at God’s construction of your own body. The skin is a collection of cells that protect the inner organs from excessive heat and cold. The fingers only move by a collection of moving parts that includes nerves, blood, tendons, ligaments, muscles, and bones. The heart cannot send blood to the other organs without a fresh supply of oxygen from the lungs. Nothing can remind us more of the miracle of God’s creation in humanity than holding a newborn baby or watching the last breath leave someone’s body. And if just one small thing disrupts the mechanism of our physical bodies, we rapidly discover the impact on the whole body.

Paul’s point is that if God created humanity this way, He also created the Church this way. The pastor alone cannot cause the church to grow or disintegrate. Church leaders singularly cannot cause the church to grow or fall apart. One disgruntled member cannot unite or destroy a church alone. It is the regard or disregard for each other, the affirmation or discrediting of each other’s abilities and gifts, the ability to work cohesively or not that will drive the future of any given church. Pandemic has sent many reeling as though we are suffering from a bout of vertigo and pandemic has also created an opportunity for all of us to explore and better exercise our giftedness. In churches where the pastor, leadership and members honor, respect and encourage each other there has been significant growth. It may not have come with increased church roles, but it came with increased outreach, broader platforms to convey the Gospel and more appreciation for the how God has gifted a congregation with prayer warriors, media artists, carpenters and craftspeople who have been beautifying the church plant while we were virtually worshipping, and so many other possible gifts that may not have been revealed if we were not all thrown into the reality of pandemic.  However, in churches that were lopsided in leadership, failing to honor one another and spiritually weak, pandemic has rendered them paralyzed, wobbling from the dizziness of vertigo, and wondering how they will make the next budget or if they will be able to re-open their doors. Vertigo is not a terminal illness; it is a symptom of imbalance that can be corrected with discipline and rehabilitation. My own vertigo experience taught me that there was an imbalance in my body and in my life, but it was correctible, and I did the challenging work to get back on solid footing and churches that find themselves in vertigo can do the same thing.

I spent hours between therapy sessions, reading and meditating on the Word. I talked with God, I examined my life and made decisions to strip away the things that were creating an imbalanced life. I had to learn all over again how to physically walk with balance and I had to learn to recognize the cues when the debris in my ears was building up so as to take the necessary steps to sweep it out. I also learned valuable life lessons for ministry that I was able to bring forward to the next charges I was assigned to serve. I have learned to recognize that vertigo can come back, but I have the tools to combat and overcome it. So here I am in present day, not with vertigo but a diagnosed ear infection that is creating an echo in my hearing and a slight imbalance to my walk. Somehow, I missed the subtle cues that the infection was building and now I am dealing with a much more stubborn infection than I have had in the past. It is in this moment that I began to see vertigo and imbalance as an analogy of our societal injustices and disparities.

It seems like to me that our nation is reeling with a proverbial case of vertigo. It is a symptom, not a terminal illness. The underlying cause is a buildup of social debris that has been compiling for centuries. The source of this debris is not nerve cells but racial, gender, economic and political inequalities. The rapid pace of nightly news segments of an out-of-control virus, police brutality, insurrection and domestic terrorism, horrors on the borders, legislative gridlock, mass shootings, gang violence, racial slurs, sexual abuse, gender bias issues and so much more has a nation reeling in a dizzying circle. Compounding our issues are the natural disasters and environmental concerns that is thrusting us farther apart, pointing fingers at one another, instead of trying to help steady one another. Motion sickness medications will help the physical symptoms of vertigo, but it does not cure it or take away the nerve debris in the ears. Likewise, platitudes and good rhetoric may ease the effect of our collective vertigo, but the real work comes in the therapeutic work that needs to happen.

As Christians, it is our responsibility to lean in on the Word of God, find the prescriptions and exercises we need to do the ‘physical therapy’ necessary to clean up our debris. One might say the problems are too big and too much to resolve. That is true for one person, but it was God who took twelve ragamuffin men and turned them into world changers, who saw something in a woman with too many husbands and made her an evangelist, who looked upon a man who described himself as the least of the least and defeated the Midian army with three hundred men. When I read the Bible, I find repeatedly, that God favors the little person who has faith to believe that God can do all things. What would happen if ALL Christians actually began the hard work of loving our neighbors, of confessing our sins, praying, and intervening on behalf of those who are unable or unwilling to change their ways. If we truly were to begin to live out the commands of God, we will find ourselves standing for justice and fair treatment for all, we will begin the stewardship of caring for the planet as God ordained man to do and we just might start to treat people with more kindness. It is a tall order and I find myself challenged as well. What can I do? Where do I need to change my habits, language, and thoughts? Where can I put my faith to action? I believe that God can take my one something and add it to another person’s one something and if ALL Christians committed to just one something they can do, we may begin to clear out the debris and begin the process of righting the wrongs and relearn how to walk in balance with God. Make no mistake, the work of ‘physical therapy’ can be tedious, painful, and tiring but it is necessary if we expect to see a healthy, well society. Is it impossible? According to God’s word, nothing is impossible with God.