-Church Blog Part 3: Broken & Messed Up Together-

One thing I can honestly say is that I know I am loved. And not just by my wife, kids and other family members but also people outside my circle of relatives. And not even just a few life-long friends either. I know. that I know. that I know that I am loved by a lot of people. People older than me, younger than me, smarter than I am and more talented. People better looking with more money and a better sense of who they are. I'm also loved by people who have less money, less education, and less of a sense of who they really are. I'm even loved by people who don't like me. I am loved by a lot of people, and they are loved by me too. Because the "church," is a beautiful idea.

I believe with all that's in me that I would not be as loved as I am were it not for the church. And please know that when I refer to "the church" I'm talking about Christians everywhere and not just the local church that I am a part of. The church has provided me with and endless supply of people to care about. I could rattle off name after name. Some of them I've only met once, some of them I've known for years and some of them I have simply only heard of. It's funny how that works. Yes, the church has provided me with mentors, proteges, and peers alike and I have learned from each one of them.

I think that's one of the main functions God has in place for His church. That we learn from one another. That it doesn't matter who you are, where you came from, what you've done, or how long you've been around. If you here, I can learn from you. You have something to contribute. And your contribution may open up whole new possibilities that I could never imagine without you. The church is a community, an entire Kingdom of people that are committed to loving God by loving each other. Service God by serving each other. Learning from God by learning from each other. Like I said, what a beautiful idea the church is.

So, where do you fit in this Kingdom? Because I promise you, you fit somewhere. And when you find your place or even just begin trying you add value to us all. Your presence and contribution make us better, stronger, and more complete than we were before. And the more people that join God's Kingdom, the closer we become to God's picture of what the church is supposed to be. Now don't get me wrong, I know the church isn't perfect. When you get people involved in something they tend to mess it up a little and the church is made up entirely of people. So naturally, we have our problems. Many outside the church often talk about how the church is full of hypocrites. And you know what? They're right. It absolutely is. So they should fit right in then.

You see the church is filled with broken, messed up people living in the same broken, messed up world that everyone else lives in. We are simply compelled by Christ to be broken and messed up together. And when we are broken and messed up together, we find strength. A strength that only God can provide through His people working in His Spirit to build one another up. To remind one another that we are not alone. To allow God to give us hope, peace, strength, love, joy, laughter, friendship companionship, and comfort through His people. Because when someone else in the church laughs or cries or prays or sings or hopes or celebrates or embraces me, it is not just them that does it. It is God laughing, crying, praying, singing, hoping, celebrating or embracing me through them.

The church is God's way of doing life at our side and not just above our heads. The church is God's way of being with us through life not just after it. The church is God's way of saying to us, "me too." The church is a beautiful idea. It's an idea worth dying for. It's an idea worth living for. If you are already a part of it, I thank you and honor you for your contribution. If you are not, we stand here waiting for you. Anticipating all that we can learn from you and all the ways God can love you through us. We are just broken, messed up people living in a broken, messed up world. But we're doing it together. We hope you'll join us.

-Jesus and the Super Bowl-

The Super Bowl is Sunday.  Many of you don't care.  A few of you pretend to care.  Still others of you actually do care but not because you like either the Steelers or the Cardinals, but simply because it's the Super Bowl.  This is the category I fall in.  I love football.  The strategy, the nuances.  Really, I consider a football game to be a Soap Opera for men.  It has deceit, and drama, and sometimes violence.  Just no dialogue which makes it perfect for men.  But I digress. The last category of people are the ones who care about the Super Bowl because they are fans of one of the two teams.  As a Dolphin fan, this is not a category I have fit into since the early 80's.

These fans generally suffer from a temporary case of insanity who's symptoms include, (but are not limited to):

• Inexplicable increase in voice volume at random times.
• Desire to "high-five" total strangers.
• Celebrating someone else's accomplishments as if they were their own.
• Excessive shouts of "wooo hooo!" and/or "In Your Face!"
• Yelling at the television in the hopes that a coach or referee will hear them in their headphones.
• Excessive self decoration in only two or three colors; sometimes as severe as altering the color on ones skin.
• Denial of reality despite the use of video documentation, AKA: instant replay. (This particular symptom is known as "Raiderous Delirium" because it commonly occurs to fans of the Oakland Raiders throughout the NFL season.)

If you or someone you love shows sign of these symptoms this Sunday, I'm sorry to tell you that there is no known treatment at this time.  The good news is that their return to reality is fairly likely.  More so if the team they are cheering for loses.  If their team wins, they are likely to display some of these symptoms for up to 7 days.  Sometimes people are just too obsessive.

I once heard a Christian speaker suggest that as Christians, we should be able to get just as excited about Jesus as some people do about their favorite sports team.  Our zeal and boisterousness should be equal or greater to that of the thousands of fans that fill entire stadiums to see their favorite teams play.  Quite frankly, I don't know if that is such a good idea.

I don't think face painting, chest bumping and random, incoherent shouting is quite was Jesus had in mind. Besides, it would be difficult to eat ice-cream out of a miniature crown of thorns.  But what scares me the most is how close we really are to being belligerently fanatical about Christianity.  Think about it; we have our own bumper-stickers, T-Shirts, coffee cups, magazines, anthems, web-sites, jewelry, and even our own MINTS.  In a sense, Christians have out marketed major sporting franchises.  Christians can also be way too "In your face" about Christianity that ultimately makes people look at us like we're as psychotic as the scary raider fans who dress up like Gwar every week during football season.  (If you don't know who Gwar is, just do a google image search and you'll see what I mean,)  I don't think that's what Jesus died for.

Don't get me wrong, I believe wholeheartedly that we should be excited about the truth that has been revealed to us and I have nothing against "Christian" products like t-shirts and magazines. In a manner of speaking, this blog itself is part of the "Christian machine."  I think our zeal and excitement about Jesus should manifest itself in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. (These attributes are described by Paul as "the fruits of the Spirit")  Look at that list of qualities again.  Now compare that to a fanatical admirer of a sports team.  Does the fan display any of those qualities?  I think Jesus had something much larger and more revolutionary in mind than a bunch of screaming "fans" to fill his divine stadium. I think Jesus wants us to be ON His team, not just fans of it.