Tacky, Overpriced and Disruptive, I like it.

The notion of running off to join the circus never much appealed to when I read about it in the books little boys used to read.  I thought it sounded like a bad idea. 

The Deshler Carnival is about as close we get to the circus coming to Beaver and of course we’ve had the prerequisite late afternoon thunderstorms ever since the big trucks rolled into town last weekend.  Being close by gives those of us at the church every day and close-up view of life in the carnival and all its workers have to do. Nothing about it would make me want to run away and join it.

Some say that the carnival is a tacky, overpriced, disruption.  And they’re right.  But all in all I like carnival week.  I’ve walked through the carnival several times this week on the way to and from appointments and errands, and here’s what I mostly see:  parents or grandparents and their kids outside together; smiles on the faces of the youngest kids going round and round on the most simple of the rides and on the faces of the older kids having their stomachs churned on the more complicated rides; parents at the rails watching with a sense of happy satisfaction (parents are supposed to take their kids to the carnival); little four year olds with a look of pride as they carry a blow-up Garfield the Cat as tall as they are, the reward for some great fete of skill they’ve just performed. 

Tacky.  Yes.  Overpriced.  Yes.  A disruption.  Yes!  Thank God, a disruption.  The carnival is a disruption from too much time inside the house, too much television, to much separation by generation, too few smiles in a life of slowly grinding routine. And it is a disruption for all of us who want to cross Third Street on Market. 

Of course, our God is a God of disruptions and he loves nothing more than to disrupt a dull routine – sometimes sending us on detour for his own good reasons.  Noah’s routine was disrupted when God called him into the shipbuilding business.  Sarah and Abraham’s retirement was disrupted when God told them to cut it short because he had a nation to build.  David’s career as a shepherd was disrupted when God said, “Go get your sling, there’s a guy named Goliath I’d like you to meet.”  Mary’s innocence was disrupted when the Angel Gabriel appeared  one day hailing her as “Favored One.”  Saul of Tarsus’ persecution of the church was disrupted when Jesus found him on the Road to Damascus. 

The perfect unity of the Trinity, the love the Father has for the Son, was disrupted at the cross when he who knew no sin took a detour and became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

If you’re like me, you hate disruptions.  But sometimes that disruption is God calling.  Thanks be to the God of great disruption!