One debt that I can never fully repay is to Joanne Eslinger, who invited me to be part of the leadership team of the Native American Family Camp when I worked for the General Board of Discipleship. The three years I spent with this program were eye-opening, attitude-shifting, and spirit awakening. I gained much more than I gave each and every year. Those retreat settings and interactions were life-changing in significant ways for this while, middle class, dominant society, privileged fortunate son.

I led a talk on uncertainty as a gift, being blessed with the freedom to question, doubt, navigate ambiguity, and still stand firm on the bedrock of faith in a loving creator God. There was much more to it, but this was the gist that elicited a response from a gentle older man who spoke to me after my session. He shared a Hopi concept – kayaanisqatsi – that he translated as “wobbly world.” He went on to explain that in his tradition, the Great Creator Spirit did not goof when he made the earth with all its imperfections, but he intentionally created kayaanisqatsi so that the world was out of balance. The entire purpose of the creation of human beings was to give them something to do – to restore balance and bring stability to the wobbly world. He told me that within each of us is a compass that points us toward what the Great Spirit intends, so that when we encounter hate we can balance it with love, where there is sorrow we can balance it with comfort, where grief, compassion, where hostility, peace, where cruelty, kindness, and on and on. The will of the Creator is that we do all in our power to balance out that which is wobbly.

I know there is a lot more to faith than kayaanisqatsi, but I carry with me an assurance that were we to do nothing more than adopt this concept as basic and essential, our world would be a better place, and our faith would have much greater credibility. There is so much that is out of balance in our world, and as we look at governing powers, we must question whether things can possibly get much wobblier.

And for me a more pressing question is, are we as Christians contributing more to balance or wobbling? Is the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) made manifest through the thoughts, words, and actions of those of us claiming Jesus Christ as Lord as well as Savior? Are the first words that pop into non-believers’ heads when they hear the name Christian love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Or are we so kayaanisqatsi ourselves that Christian is too often perceived as exclusive, somber, angry, judgmental, cruel, selfish, narrow-minded, aggressive, and destructive? Throughout my years doing research for The United Methodist Church – years where we as a denomination desperately sought to reach a younger demographic (remember ReThink Church?) – I found a deep disillusionment and embarrassment among those under 40 about who we are, what we stand for, and why we act the ways we do. Younger people wrestled not with the idea of a wobbly world, but a wobbly church more concerned about its own survival than witnessing Christ to the world.

My counsel then and now is don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t despair. Wobbliness is nothing more than a clarion call to response and action. Kayaanisqatsi is the way things are supposed to be, the way God intends them to be. This wobbly world is a gift to us granting us everything we need to live a life of holy devotion, unmerited (but crucially needed) grace, and selfless service and witness. We are God’s agents of balance. Through us, the Great Creator Spirit brings creation to fulfillment, but only if we will stay focused on the good and not be overwhelmed by the bad.

A wobbly world needs people firmly rooted to the bedrock of God’s limitless and restorative power. On Christ the solid rock we stand, and no matter how wobbly goes the world, we shall not be moved.