Banana Surgery

As I’ve mentioned before, I am employed as a minister.  While I have many duties associated with my employment, my primary function is to lead and teach the youth of our church.   Last night, I divided my wild bunch into surgical teams of 2 or 3, and provided them with an operating table (paper plate), scalpels (plastic knives) and a patient (a banana).  I gave them the instructions to peel the banana and cut the banana any which way they desired.  The only requirement was that they keep all the pieces (i.e. don’t eat the banana).  So, my little group of future M.D.’s went to work.   Some made even, precise cuts.  Some were sliced length wise, other in half.   Some were, well, let’s just say not as precise.

And then I dropped the bomb on them.   When they were finished, and had presented their pieces of bananas, I then instructed them to reconstruct their “patient.”   Of course, I provided a few surgical supplies to assist with the endeavor-tape, paper clips, etc. 

Hilarity ensued.

We ended up naming the “patients” post-op in our laughter, and here I present to you Frankenana, Ninjana, Zombanana, and Body Bag Steve (poor Steve).

The object of the lesson was to point that once we “do harm” to of just outright hurt others that those that we inflict damage upon maybe functional, but are never really the same.  Just like our bananas bared the marks of the scalpels, even after attempts to repair them, so to do the souls and spirits of those who are hurt bear the scars of their sufferings.  

After I got home and began looking closer at bananas as I posted pictures to the youth group’s Facebook page, I began to notice that all four of patients, albeit completely unintentionally, highlighted a different, but important result of what happens when we are harmed.

I first looked at Frankenana.   Now, Frank’s team did a pretty good job in his reconstructive surgery.   He was certainly the most intact afterwards.   He was even wearing a smile-unusual, if not slightly creepy-for banana who has just endured major reconstructive surgery.    Nevertheless, behind that smile, Frankenana was just that-Frankenana-a sort of banana who once was an actual banana, and who really had no hope of becoming a full banana again through the help of even our most skilled surgeons.  People are like that.   Maybe they keep on smiling, and keep on going.   Maybe even on the surface they appear to be pretty much together.   But once someone has cut them to their core, by word or deed, though the damage has been repaired, some scarring remains.

Next there was Ninjana.   As the Ningana’s medical condition was appearing increasingly grave, Ninjana’s team of gifted surgeons improvised an incredible life-saving technique with a roll of black electrical tape that just happened to be in one of the surgeons pockets.   Ninjana was wheeled out of surgery completely reconstructed on the outside with a new and improved façade to boot.   In fact, he’s new facade was so tough that Ninjana was practically impenetrable.   He was not firmly surrounded by a wall of electrical tape which not only allowed our resident Banana Ninja to hold to his original form (not to mention look like the most awesome Banana Ninja we know), but also to conceal in that form on the inside he was completely a mess.  You see, most of the inside of Ninjana was impossible to piece back together, and so Ninjana’s surgeons managed to create an outer appearance  that served to protect Ninjana from ever feeling like less of a banana again and conceal the fact that inside, Ninjana was basically baby food.  Again, we find this in some people too.   Once people are hurt and hurt again, they eventually learn to put up a wall.   The wall has two primary functions.  One, the wall protects that person from getting hurt again by preventing anyone or anything from getting close enough to hurt them like they have been hurt before.   Two, the wall ensures that no one sees how badly they have been hurt, and how they still hurt from past grievances.   It’s a difficult repair that had to be made, to say the least.

And then there was Zombanana.  Now, the question remains as to whether Zombanana survived the surgery or not.   He appeared to be relatively intact, but there were definitely some open areas, particularly relating to the brain area, and as I am not an expert in zombiesque bananas, well, I’ll let you decide whether Zombanana is actually a banana or not.  What I can tell you, he came out a bit warped, and forever changed by his experience.  The wounds he suffered were a bit less reparable, and it as a result he had a bit of form change (we also decided against letting Zom near the other patients for safety reasonsJ).   This too happens with people.   Sometimes the wounds are so great, that short of finding God’s love and grace afterward, people don’t heal in a meaningful way.  Sometimes hurt that is inflicted is so painful that healing never really occurs short of divine intervention, and that person ends up living life with an open wound that effects everything they do in life-every action, reaction, emotion, feeling, etc.-so much in some cases that it could raise questions as to whether they are still, in fact, alive.

And finally, there was Body Bag Steve.  Poor Steve.  We can safely say that Steve didn’t survive.  He gave his life to science…er, theology...ah, forget it.   Steve wound up still in pieces underneath the a mound of scotch tape that secured him to his funeral pyre, I mean, operating table in a manner that he at least somewhat resembled his former self-at least for the purposes of final viewing.  You see, Steve’s initial surgery was just too invasive for him to recover.  He had been cut, and cut, and cut again, and eventually there was no hope for our patient to survive, even with a team of surgeons.   And sadly, there are people like that.   Eventually they just get hurt so much that they are only a shell of their former selves-of what God created them to be-and they cannot heal at all without the help of a God who loves and heals.

 There’s a point to all this.  There are three primary focuses to Get Up and Go 2014:  Love first.  Do good.  Pray for each other.   All three come into play here.

 First-just love.  Don’t worry about anything else.  Just love.  If you go in love for your neighbor as God has loved you, you’ll be okay.   And remember what love is-see 1^st Corinthians 13 if you need a refresher. Don’t go out of your own righteousness, don’t because you’re right.  You’ll do harm.   Christ did not come forcing anyone at the tip of a sword-because that is not love.   Go in love.  God’s love.

And in God’s love, DO GOOD.  You (Yes, YOU!) were created to do good for the kingdom!!!   So do it.  Be a light.  Be the good.   That good will gain more for the kingdom than anything that is forced will!!  And furthermore, that good might be an instrument that God uses to heal the Frankenanas, Ninjanas, Zombananas, and yes, even the Body Bag Steve’s (Poor Steve!) in this world.  

Finally, pray.  Pray that love will prevail.  Pray that it will be your first instinct.  Pray that good will be done in love and that God will shine in that good.  Pray for the healing of those who have been hurt and that the good they experience will help that process.   And pray for each other as we all get up and go so that we might change the world.

(And, if you want to see all the surgery pictures, go to:   https://www.facebook.com/DecaturUnitedMethodistChurchYouth)