By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

“They are but a drop in the bucket,” said the prophet Isaiah about the nations (Isaiah 40:15, NKJV). By this expression, Isaiah pictured the smallness of humanity before the greatness of God. The expression, “a drop in a bucket,” means a tiny quantity, something that makes little difference. Sometimes people feel small and insignificant as they face problems, both personal and public. However, the Presidential election of the year 2000 has shown us that individuals do matter. One vote in the Electoral College elected Presidents Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Rutherford B. Hayes. Individual votes in Florida will make the difference in the recent election.

You matter as an individual because institutions are made up of individuals. Individuals determine the quality of the family, the local church, and the society. John Grisham gave his individual vote to his family. Ten years ago, Grisham was a small town lawyer who had published one novel. Then he wrote three novels that made his a literary star. These novels became movies: The Firm, Pelican Brief, and The Client. Despite his success, Grisham devotes his time to mission trips with his church group, to the local Little League, and to the six baseball fields he built on his property for the kids.

You matter as an individual because ideas and attitudes are incarnated in individuals. Ideas are poor ghosts until they take on flesh and blood, until they are wrapped up in a person. Ten years ago a member of All Saints’ Church suffered from AIDS – “acquired immune deficiency syndrome.” The “human immunodeficiency virus” (HIV) causes the disease. After the member’s death, I wrote a pamphlet titled “AIDS – The Modern Leprosy.” Like lepers in ancient Israel, AIDS victims have been cut off from social contacts and regarded as under God’s wrath. Recently, two persons became members of All Saints’. They are Phil and Immy Ferrara. They had a son, Philip, Jr., who died from the disease of AIDS seven years ago. Immy has incarnated an attitude of compassion by organizing parents who have lost a child to AIDS or have a child living with HIV. Immy called her new group “A Mother’s Pledge.”

You matter as an individual because influence is expressed through individuals. In the days after Jesus’ return to life, people believed that Jesus’ friend, Peter, cast a healing shadow of influence (Acts 5:15). The shadow of a pastor remains on Broad Street. Russell Conwell was the pastor of Baptist Temple. In the late 1800s, he started a school in the basement of his church to prepare men for the ministry. This school grew into Temple University. Temple reminds us of the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man.” The entire Christian movement is the lengthened shadow of Jesus of Nazareth.

You matter as an individual. As Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth . . . You are the light of the worlds” (Matthew 5:13-14).