I was recently reading an article about Nikhil Kamath, who at 34 years old has become India’s youngest billionaire. This is due to his co-founding Zerudha, a trading brokerage firm, of which he remains chief investment officer. However, this isn’t what I found most fascinating about him. Instead, I found it interesting that, at the age of 14, he dropped out of high school to play chess full time. Chess! Of all things this obviously brilliant and gifted man could do, he chose chess. For some, chess is a wonderfully mindful endeavor. Yet, for most of us, chess can be a rather dull and difficult game. So, why would Mr. Kamath dedicate so much time to it? He was quoted as saying, “Chess teaches you how to work under a structure, in a system, but yet try and be creative within that system” (https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/12/zerodhas-nikhil-kamath-is-indias-youngest-new-billionaire.html).
All of us work within some sort of system, don’t we? Whether it be work or school, governement or church, even the requirements of life during a pandemic, all require us to conform to a certain set of rules or regulations. Yet, what I believe Mr. Kamath points out is that these rules or regulations don’t have to limit us. Instead they should cause us to become more creative in our efforts to accomplish the tasks before us, shouldn’t they? Just as during a chess match, we should always be thinking several steps ahead, preparing for a multitude of possibilities in response to what occurs around us.
Such is what the church faces in the world today – trying to figure out what moves to make in response to the “game” before us. While the tim-tested standards may have worked in some other time or some other match, we are now in a position to find new sets of moves unlike any have ever seen before. How do we have certain programs? How do we continue to do outreach? How does the ministry of the church march on when we may feel like we are in a losing match?
One thing about chess is certain, you can either forfeit the game or keep on pressing ahead. Pressing ahead is often the most difficult thing, especially when you think there aren’t many options available to you. Yet, we have to have faith in what we can accomplish, that there is also another creative move available to counteract that which is occurring. This is our call as the church today. This is our responsibility in fulfilling our mission. After all, we serve the Creator of the universe, don’t we?
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6, NRSV).
Pastor Steve