“V-Formation”
I like to look at the sky. I like to see the various shapes of clouds, airplanes and birds in the sky. Even at night, I like to see the moon and stars in the sky. In March, the beginning of spring, we can see wonderful movement of migrating birds. They may fill the sky with their sounds. What is interesting here is that they fly together in V- formation. The reason they maintain the V-formation in their migration is because they can save their energy and fly farther at the same time in formation. According to scientists, the wind from the flapping of the first bird at the apex of the V-formation is greatly helpful for the flight of the next birds. So, the next birds can save their energy
for their long trip. And when the first bird is exhausted by their leading role, one of the next birds switches their roles. So, the first bird becomes the last bird of the formation and it can help to restore its physical strength through the rotation of the role. In this cooperation of the V-formation, the birds can arrive at their destination where they want to go. Because they fly together, they accomplish their goal.
Nowadays, we call this cooperation as “synergy effect.” According to a dictionary, synergy effect is the result of two or more things interacting together to produce an effect that is greater than something individually produced. There are many examples of the synergy effect around us in business areas, academic areas, and our human relationships, too. And moreover, we can also find it in our Bible. We can see it in God’s creation story, Moses and Aron, Exodus story, Jesus and John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples, etc. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, also organized various groups of faith communities and worked through them. And our cooperative parish is deeply rooted in
the tradition of Wesleyan connectionism. This is all because we are one church in the name of Jesus Christ. There may be something that an individual church cannot deal with. But if our churches gather our resources and our prayers together, we can surely do that. So, we worship together. We work for our ministry and mission together. And finally, we build up the kingdom of God together in this world. I hope we all go together in mutual-dependence and cooperation in order to realize God’ will, as the migrating birds fly in the V-formation. Amen.
Pastor Jinha Choi
First & Wesley United Methodist Church