I am a fan of stand-up comedy, and the comedian James Acaster has a fantastic joke about Conga Lines. He jokes that a Conga dance is one of the most stressful enjoyable activities one can do. The leader has the stress of ensuring his followers go in a safe, sensible and fun direction. He goes on to explain that within the conga line, you are to follow the person in front of you, but lead the person behind you. If you try to leave the line in front, you don't leave the conga line, you accidentally start a rival one. It's all very funny but we can learn a lot about faith from this example. When we are born, we model ourselves mostly on our parents or siblings, seeing as these are some of the first people we are exposed to. We follow the song and dance of them, and in turn, they lead us to safe, sensible and fun places. If there are moving to the right music (the word of the Lord) then I will enjoy following, and perhaps others will follow me. We progress together. If one leaves the line prematurely, they run the risk of taking others with them, in the wrong direction. One that isn't sensible, safe, or fun. So too, might we later model ourselves on Christ, or Christ's image, who in turn was modeled on his Heavenly Father, who is infinite in His compassion.

Holy God, thank you for making your character known both in Scripture and in human flesh through Jesus. Through your Holy Spirit, I ask that you form in me the character of Christ so that others may see Jesus in my example and live for him. In the precious name of the Savior Jesus I pray. Amen.