Shooting Hoops

I love the game of basketball.  Ever since my high school days I have loved to get out on the court and play the game.  I have so many great memories of my time with the sport and the people I have met because of it.  From high school to college, playing basketball helped me realize I was capable of more than I realized.  With enough hard work and discipline my body, mind, and spirit could withstand even the most grueling of practices.  More than that however, I realized the value and power that comes when a group of people work together toward the same goal.  Winning might not be everything, but it certainly makes things more fun.  

When I served my first church I encountered the joy of being a basketball coach to middle school girls.  Though I really didn't know what to expect it became one of the best ways to stay close to the sport and it was such a joy to watch as young ladies grew in self-confidence, strength, and love of the game.  For some throwing a ball into a hoop might seem silly, but I realized again today how much I love the game.

Northland UMC (Stanwood, MI) does all it can to offer elementary and middle school boys and girls the opportunity to play basketball.  Working with the Upward Basketball program over 300 children are placed on teams, given coaches, referees, and uniforms.  All of this is done in a spirit of faith-development and personal growth.  In the middle of our practices we have a time of devotion.  Before the games the referees pray.  The score at the end of the game doesn't really matter.  What matters most is what can be learned and gained through teamwork, discipline, and friendship.  

Due to bad weather and power outages we only had one practice before this game.  I help coach this team with one of my students, Olivia.  Neither of us knew what to expect as we approached the gym.  Would they know which basket to shoot at? Could they get the ball to their end of the gym?  Did we ever even tell them how to pass the ball in?  

Much to our surprise our 4th-6th grade gals did a great job.  It was so much fun to coach on the sidelines trying to help them learn on the spot.  I'm sure the other coaches thought we were nuts as they sat in their chairs quietly.  The scorekeeper kept messing up the score, giving our points to the other team, or something?!  We were trained as coaches not to worry about the score, but our students kept asking us and the competitive people we are, we knew it was off. 

At the end of the game we did win, but the best part came in the voice of one of our gals.  After shaking the other team's hands she said, "It doesn't matter what the score said, we know that we won on the inside."  This is the same gal who doesn't have a mean or aggressive bone in her body.  The ball could actually be within her reach, but if another girl was there she'd just let them have it.  Her heartfelt comment spoke to my way-too-competitive spirit and made me laugh.  She was right.  We definitely won on the inside.  

Basketball has helped me realize the power of winning on the inside no matter what the scoreboard says.  Faith in Christ helps me live this out. Through faith I know that no matter what the score might be according to the world, I serve a God filled with grace, mercy, and compassion.  This God is a just God, a sacrificing God, a loving God.  This God cares far more about how the game of life is played than what the score is at the end.  

I love basketball.  I need to play more often.  Not to win, but to remind myself of the power of teamwork.  I am going to soak up the wisdom of these young gals as I do whatever I can to encourage them to be winners on the inside.  I have a feeling that I will learn much more from them than they will learn from me!

Wasteland

This song is by one of my favorite groups, Need to Breathe.  It's the music that's on my phone for when I don't have internet to stream from another source.  This song continues to speak to me though I have listened to it a million times.  

I'm an optimist.  Well, at least most of the time.  I like to think that I encounter situations trusting and hoping that God is present.  Sometimes though I get overwhelmed by darkness.  This darkness can come from the negativity that I wrote about yesterday, it can come from situations in which I have little power or control, it can even come from being weary.  

Today the weather has been really interesting here in Big Rapids, MI.  It would snow and blow really bad, with no visibility and darkness, to give way only a few minutes later to blue skies and sunshine.  When I see the sun in the winter months I am always tempted to just go outside and lay in the snow so I can soak it up.  The light really does give me joy.  It reminds me of things to come, like warm summer days in a kayak, or moments of quiet paddle-boarding on the lake.  Just a glimpse of the sunshine fills me with hope!

My favorite part of this song says: 

Yeah in this wasteland where I'm livin'There is a crack in the door filled with lightAnd it's all that I need to get byYeah in this wasteland where I'm livin'There is a crack in the door filled with lightAnd it's all that I need to shine

The video above shows this image of young sprouts coming up through the soil.  I imagine we have all taken notice of the first flower we see in the early spring.  We have probably all had house plants that tilt toward the sunshine, soaking in the light of life.  All it takes is a crack of light, just a crack.

In 2 Corinthians we read:

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. 

When I think of clay pots I almost automatically think of an experience I had in college.  I wanted to make something out of clay and had a friend who took me to the studio.  I tried for quite a while to throw the clay in the middle of the wheel (missing more often than not), to mold and shape a lump of clay into something use-able.  It seemed impossible.  I'd have one side looking good, add a little pressure to the other side only to have it all look like a lop-sided mess!  Unadorned clay pots offers the image of imperfection, maybe even cracks.  But just think, it is only through the cracks, through the brokenness that the light can get through, that the light can shine and offer new growth, and new life.

Sometimes situations can really feel like we are living in a wasteland.  It is in these times we must seek out the Life-Light.  Then, as we are in the process of growing we let that same light slip out of the cracks and blemishes in our lives. That's when we really learn to shine.

Shine on, friends.  Shine on.

Complaint Department

Sometimes I can get to complaining.  I can convince myself that I deserve something better than I'm getting, or that I want something I can't afford.  For me it is kind of like a slippery slope, once I get started my whole attitude can take a swift negative turn.  Our words have such power. The book of James says it well in chapter 1:

 "Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life."

I want to be a better listener.  I've never had a problem with the talking part, or the sharing-my-opinion part.  It's the listening part that trips me up.  I have to slow down sometimes and remember how blessed I am before I get caught up in the deadly cycle of complaining.  The very act of listening is rooted in the understanding that other people have value, deserve respect, and reflect the image of God.  When we look through the eyes of faith we cannot simply complain about one another or degrade someone we do not fully understand.  We must listen and in listening we often learn how valuable our differences of opinion really are.  

When we slow down and ground ourselves in the beauty of the gift of life, looking around and recognizing God's handiwork, it is pretty difficult to complain.  How can we be dissatisfied customers when there is so much evidence of God's design in our midst!  

What situation(s) have you complained about recently?  When is the last time you were intentional about building up and encouraging before complaining?  How might these troublesome situations or individuals actually be opportunities for learning more about yourself?

My prayer for tonight is this:
God of kindness, mercy, and love ground me in the depths of your forgiveness.  Help me to listen more than I speak, to build up rather than tear down.  Teach me to work with and see your image in those with whom I struggle.  Speak boldly to my Spirit that I might recognize Your still small voice in the midst of the noise in my life.  Amen.  

Dirty Fingernails

There's ash under my fingernail.  It's from a day of reminding people that they've been made in the image of God.  It symbolizes a long day used to jump-start Lenten journeys with significance.  It reminds me that students I've never met were open to trying something new, while others were just grateful that they could partake in an abbreviated time of worship when they could not make it to church.  

The ash under my fingernail signifies inclusion, as Wesley students and I were invited to participate in the Big Rapids Community Ash Wednesday Service.  It was nice to be included.  The dirty fingernail reminds me that God is bigger than my opinions about right theology, and my frustration with my own denomination.  It reminds me that God > Me.

At our Statewide Wesley retreat a few weekends ago my colleague in campus ministry read Wesley's Covenant Prayer (see above).  I've read and heard this prayer read so many times.  It's something that tends to come around at the beginning of the  new year.  The line that jumped right into my soul is the one that reads, "Let me be employed by you, or laid aside for you." I hate that thought.  I don't want to be laid aside, I want to work and serve and minister.  But I think I need to be laid aside.  I at least need to remember that being a disciple of Christ isn't about who works the hardest.  It isn't about having the biggest group of Christians on campus, it isn't about how many students I spend time with every day.  My entire being has been swallowed up in the pressure coming from slashed conference budgets, which leads to a ministry goal of numerical output rather than transformed lives, strengthened leaders, and strong young adult voices in the church.  Pastors being pushed to perform, to have maximum numerical output are not being true to their calling to be "set apart." 

The ash under my fingernail reminds me that when I bowed down before the Bishop, surrounded by faithful church leaders and people I love, I heard words about being set apart, staying true to God's call, taking time to listen and pray.  It's the call for all of us who are in this together as pastors, lay people, and those just trying to figure out what in the world the Truth really is.  Being a disciple, growing in faith really has nothing to do with output or numbers.  When we start equating people to funds we get in real serious trouble!

God is calling me to do less and be more.  So I find myself back to the Lenten discipline of writing a devotion/reflection every day.  I don't do it to see how many people might read it or take this journey with me.  I do it because it will discipline me to carve out some time each day to read Scripture, pray, and re-connect.

How is God speaking to you?  Is there something you are giving up/taking on for Lent?  

In a spirit of deep gratitude I'm going to wash the ash off my hand and remember that I too am made in God's image.