Does that mean anything?

I heard a story recently from a friend.  Whether the story is true or not...doesn't matter...the implications and possible need for reflection remain the same.

In a small town there are a couple churches...none bigger than 700 people, but the town is old and small enough that everyone knows each other.  Just small enough that competition for evangelical audience seems to be a temptation. 

In this town there are two churches in particular.  One is "thriving" the other is "trying"  In this particular episode the "healthy" church was buying some new equipment to bolster their sunday morning production.  Cost of the equipment was somewhere in the range of $10,000.  The pastor from the "trying" church thought wow they must be doing something with the old equipment that was not functioning up to par and our church could really use the equipment that is useless to them.

He asked his friend at the other church to put the request in for the old equipment that could just be donated from the "thriving" church to the "trying" church.  It seemed like a reasonable request.  A little bit of sharing between churches never hurt anyone right?

The board voted unanimously "NO".  Instead they sold the old equipment on Ebay for a small tiny fraction of the $10,000 they spent on the new equipment and nothing that would put a dent in their annual budget one way or the other.

So why share this story.  Does it mean anything?

I think it says something.  It shows that there is something wrong...not with everyone, and not with even in all ways with this one church.  But it is a subtle slant that might be overlooked when in reality it might be a sad commentary on the relationships between churches.

We are already seen by the world as divided...what would the world say if they new all the behind the back talk about "that" church and playground like lack of sharing amongst us.  Does that story proclaim a God of power, love, and unity who told us that "Any house divided against itself can't stand"  

How well are we standing....or not?