Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 and Esther 3: 8-11, 4:1-17 to start.

Who here has a set of dominoes at home? Yes, I’m talking about the double-ended rectangular tiles with pips numbering from zero to six, or twelve on a larger set, not the pizza franchise. If you do or if you don’t, you’re likely familiar with them. Maybe you play dominoes, maybe you don’t, but maybe you know the other, better use for dominoes. That is of course to make a domino chain. Stand the individual dominoes up on their ends in a line, spaced maybe an inch or so apart, then knock over the first one and watch them all fall down in sequence.

I don’t know about you, but I find this type of chain reaction is decidedly more entertaining than actually playing a game of dominoes. Of course, one set of dominoes does not make a very long chain. You can search for domino chain videos on YouTube and find ones that feature thousands of dominoes arranged in elaborate patterns, perhaps in different sizes and colours, and which produce spectacular displays when they are knocked down in sequence. Sometimes people integrate other toys or devices into these displays or use vast numbers of dominoes to make the effect even more interesting. I looked it up, the world record for the largest of these used more than four million dominoes. That’s a lot of sets, and a lot of work to put together. But no matter how large or small the arrangement might be, it all starts from a single domino knocking over the next one, which knocks over the next one. Each domino plays a part or it doesn’t work.

There are many things like that, perhaps not as visually spectacular as a domino chain reaction, but often more important and necessary. Inside your car there is an engine and transmission, both of which contain dozens of interlinked components that are all involved in delivering power from the pistons to the wheels. If one of those components is missing or broken, the whole system does not operate.

A mechanical clock or watch is another excellent example. All those gears and cogs mesh together and move in perfect sequence to keep the time accurately. I remember from when I was a child I knew someone who worked in children’s ministry. He had a fascinating watch, I’ve never seen one like it since. On the back he had engraved the words Thou God Seest Me, from Genesis chapter 16 verse 13, and the reason why was because it had the face open behind the crystal so you could see inside of it and see the moving parts. He used this as an illustration of how God can see us inside and out, He knows our hearts and minds just as plainly as He knows our words and deeds, even if no one else does, not even ourselves. It was obviously an effective illustration, because here I remember it forty years later. And I remember seeing all those little cogs in action, because you could watch the gears moving at their various different speeds, some fast, some slow, but all doing their part to keep the hour, minute, and seconds hands in motion.