Synergy results when we work together for a common good or a higher purpose. Stephen Covey, author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, defines synergy as “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts . . . one plus one equals three or more.” He points us to nature, where synergy is found everywhere. For example, “If you plant two plants together, the roots comingle and improve the quality of the soil so that both plants will grow better together than if they were separated. If you put two pieces of wood together, they will hold much more than the total of the weight held by each separately.” (Habit 6, Synergize) The challenge for us as Christians is to apply the principles of creative cooperation which we learn from nature into our work as the body of Christ.

Jesus pointed his disciples to the vineyard to illustrate this. He said, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) Later in the New testament, the Apostle Paul used a different metaphor but also pointed to the synergy that results when the parts of the body of Christ collaborate: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ . . . Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12: 12, 27)

On Sunday May 14, we experienced synergy in worship when Jacob Giancaterino and Bob Ford played It Is Well, Jacob on the grand piano and Bob on the organ. A majestic sound emerged that would not have been possible if they had played separately. The sum was greater than the parts! One plus one is three or greater! To God be the glory! Later in the same worship service, I told a story about two women, Margaret and Ruth, that helped us see the power of synergy in our relationships.  In case you didn’t get to watch or listen, here it is!

In the spring of 1983, Margaret Patrick arrived at the Southeast Senior Center for Independent Living in New Jersey to being her physical therapy. Millie McHugh, one of the staff members, was introducing Margaret to other people at the center. She noticed the look of pain in Margaret’s eyes as she gazed at the piano in the activity room. “Is anything wrong?” asked Millie. “No,” Margaret said softly. “It’s just that seeing a piano brings back memories. Before my stroke, music was everything to me.” Mille noticed Margaret’s useless right hand as she quietly told some of the highlights of her music career.

Suddenly, Millie had a thought. She said to Margaret, “Wait right here. I’ll be back in a minute.” And she returned moments later, followed closely by a small, white-haired woman in thick glasses. The woman used a walker. 

“Margaret Patrick,” said Millie, “meet Ruth Eisenberg.”  Then she smiled and said, “She too played the piano, but like you, she’s not been able to play since her stroke. Mrs. Eisenberg has a good right hand, and you have a good left, and I have a feeling that together you two can do something wonderful. Ruth looked at Margaret and asked, “Do you know Chopin’s Walz in D flat?” Margaret nodded.

Side by side, the two sat on the piano bench. Two healthy hands – one with long graceful black fingers, the other with short, plump white ones – moved rhythmically across the ebony and ivory keys. Since that day, they sat together over the keyboards hundreds of times – Margaret’s helpless right hand around Ruth’s back, Ruth’s helpless left hand on Margaret’s knee, while Ruth’s good hand plays the melody and Margaret’s good hand plays the accompaniment. 

Their music has pleased audiences on television, at churches and schools, and at rehab centers and senior living centers. And on the piano bench, more than music has been shared by these two. For it was there, beginning with Chopin and Bach and Beethoven, that they learned they had more in common than they ever dreamed – both were great-grandmothers and widows, both had lost sons, both had much to give, but neither could give without the other. 

Margaret would say, “My music was taken away, but God gave me Ruth.” And Ruth said, “It was God’s miracle that brought us together.” 

A reporter gave them the name “Ebony and Ivory” and the name stuck. The two would make music together, each with their good hand, for over a decade.

A 4^th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul, pp. 254-255. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebony_and_Ivory_(piano_duo)#Sermons_and_religious_articles. Photo credited to the aforementioned link.

May we think “win-win,” “listen and empathize,” and “synergize” as the body of Christ! One plus one equals three or way more!

In Christ’s service,