I have not blogged in a very long time. While I was gone from here, I had knee replacement surgery. The consequent painful rehabilitation and cautions from my surgeon about the kinds of foot/leg impacts to avoid if I want this new joint to last have solidified in my mind an earlier decision that I my skydiving life is over.
So this afternoon I am sitting in the quiet of my den, the late afternoon sunlight pouring in the window and warming me against the chilly drafts across the wooden floor. And I am reflecting upon the life lessons I learned while skydiving. There were many. But for now, I am thinking of only one. It has to do with toggle turns.
In very simple terms, the toggles are the lines attached to a parachute that allow a jumper to control the direction and speed in which s/he is flying. There is a toggle line on both the right and the left of the parachute system. When a jumper is in full flight and traveling his or her fastest, both hands are all the way above the head with hands on the toggle handles, exerting no force on the lines. Pulling down on the right toggle causes the parachute to turn to the right; pulling down on the left toggle causes the parachute to turn to the left. Letting up on the toggle stops the turn and returns the parachute to flying straight. The longer one holds the toggle down, the longer the parachute and jumper will turn, eventually turning in a circle if the toggle is not released upward to intervene in the turning motion. The more forcefully one holds the toggle down, the more extreme will be the motion of the turn. Taken to its limit, a sufficiently strenuous input on a toggle can cause the parachute to become unstable, tipping deeply to one side and potentially losing its structural integrity as it begins to drop out of the sky.
Turning the parachute by pulling on either toggle causes it to lose altitude. Consequently, if a jumper wants to descend quickly from a height, they will pull one toggle down and hold it long enough for the parachute to make numerous sequential circles in the air, thus creating a spiral effect that causes the jumper to descend to earth more quickly than they might ordinarily.
To avoid the loss in altitude caused by pulling on a toggle, a jumper can execute what is called a flat turn. In a flat turn, the jumper pulls both toggles at the same time to the same level and then either raises or lowers one toggle even further. This action causes the parachute to turn, but results in a much less severe decrease in altitude.
Why does any of this matter? Because there are times when one is jumping that the only safe way to turn one’s parachute in another direction is to execute a flat turn. Failure to execute a flat turn in those circumstances causes precipitous and dangerous decreases in altitude that can potentially lead to serious physical injury or death. There are times when one is jumping that failure to execute a flat turn is as potentially dangerous as not turning at all.
Which brings me to us folks here in the United Methodist Church.
There are many circumstances in the life of our church where justice is wanting. There are many circumstances in the life of our church that need the people of God to stand up and say, “no more.” There are also very complicated issues facing us as we try to discern what it means to be a truly global church and to align ourselves with God in every regard. It is seeming to me that some of these matters are the church’s right toggle, and some are its left (I’m not speaking as in so-called right wing and left wing politics; that is not the image I am summoning). If we pull one without the other, we will circle and then spiral, losing altitude and direction.
I believe our United Methodist Church is a divine gift, provided as a mechanism for drawing people to the light of Jesus Christ and nurturing them in their discipleship and relationship with God. I believe the church and its mission want more tender handling than we have been affording … not for the sake of the institution itself, but for the sake of every person God has created – every person for whom Christ has died.
Some of us are inclined to pull the right toggle of this single-winged craft we call the United Methodist Church. Some of us are inclined to pull the left. And that is fine, as far as it goes. But only by pulling together can we faithfully and fruitfully navigate these days.
So this afternoon I am sitting in the quiet of my den, the late afternoon sunlight pouring in the window and warming me against the chilly drafts across the wooden floor. And I am reflecting upon the life lessons I learned while skydiving. There were many. But for now, I am thinking of only one. It has to do with toggle turns.
In very simple terms, the toggles are the lines attached to a parachute that allow a jumper to control the direction and speed in which s/he is flying. There is a toggle line on both the right and the left of the parachute system. When a jumper is in full flight and traveling his or her fastest, both hands are all the way above the head with hands on the toggle handles, exerting no force on the lines. Pulling down on the right toggle causes the parachute to turn to the right; pulling down on the left toggle causes the parachute to turn to the left. Letting up on the toggle stops the turn and returns the parachute to flying straight. The longer one holds the toggle down, the longer the parachute and jumper will turn, eventually turning in a circle if the toggle is not released upward to intervene in the turning motion. The more forcefully one holds the toggle down, the more extreme will be the motion of the turn. Taken to its limit, a sufficiently strenuous input on a toggle can cause the parachute to become unstable, tipping deeply to one side and potentially losing its structural integrity as it begins to drop out of the sky.
Turning the parachute by pulling on either toggle causes it to lose altitude. Consequently, if a jumper wants to descend quickly from a height, they will pull one toggle down and hold it long enough for the parachute to make numerous sequential circles in the air, thus creating a spiral effect that causes the jumper to descend to earth more quickly than they might ordinarily.
To avoid the loss in altitude caused by pulling on a toggle, a jumper can execute what is called a flat turn. In a flat turn, the jumper pulls both toggles at the same time to the same level and then either raises or lowers one toggle even further. This action causes the parachute to turn, but results in a much less severe decrease in altitude.
Why does any of this matter? Because there are times when one is jumping that the only safe way to turn one’s parachute in another direction is to execute a flat turn. Failure to execute a flat turn in those circumstances causes precipitous and dangerous decreases in altitude that can potentially lead to serious physical injury or death. There are times when one is jumping that failure to execute a flat turn is as potentially dangerous as not turning at all.
Which brings me to us folks here in the United Methodist Church.
There are many circumstances in the life of our church where justice is wanting. There are many circumstances in the life of our church that need the people of God to stand up and say, “no more.” There are also very complicated issues facing us as we try to discern what it means to be a truly global church and to align ourselves with God in every regard. It is seeming to me that some of these matters are the church’s right toggle, and some are its left (I’m not speaking as in so-called right wing and left wing politics; that is not the image I am summoning). If we pull one without the other, we will circle and then spiral, losing altitude and direction.
I believe our United Methodist Church is a divine gift, provided as a mechanism for drawing people to the light of Jesus Christ and nurturing them in their discipleship and relationship with God. I believe the church and its mission want more tender handling than we have been affording … not for the sake of the institution itself, but for the sake of every person God has created – every person for whom Christ has died.
Some of us are inclined to pull the right toggle of this single-winged craft we call the United Methodist Church. Some of us are inclined to pull the left. And that is fine, as far as it goes. But only by pulling together can we faithfully and fruitfully navigate these days.
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