The edge of mayo

Many sciences study 'edge effects'—the nature of boundaries. In Ecology, for instance, activity and diversity are greatest where forests meet meadows, meadows meet ponds, and seas meet shipwrecks.

We're told oil and water don't mix. Stir them together and they separate. But the truth is, if we shake them vigorously enough we make mayonnaise or latex paint—millions of tiny oil droplets (let's call them bubbles) suspended in water—with lots and lots of edge.

Churches are called bubbles and we criticize those 'inside the bubble'. But it's what's inside that preserves the bubble's nature and character. The inside supports the life, activity, and diversity at the edge of the bubble—out there. The problem arises when churches haven't been shaken recently. And they coalesce and separate from the world. Far less edge.

Edges are life-giving. Workplaces, local and global missions, neighborhoods—all are places where believers touch others' lives in ways that can be healing and attractive. Like ecologists, we can increase activity and promote diversity just by adding 'edge' (Acts 1:8).

But often it's God who has to do the shaking to get us 'out there' and increase our edge. Consider a few examples: Babel in Genesis 11 (confusion), Christ's death in Mark 15:38 (new paradigm), the diaspora in Acts 8 (persecution). Also the flight of the Pilgrims to the New World, Martin Luther's Reformation, wars, famines, and refugee migrations.

As someone once said, "It's Acts 1:8 or it's Acts 8:1". Either way, it's about existing as healthy bubbles with plenty of edge.