Sunday, God's House, Frisbee

I am a pretty big fan of Sundays.  I love them.  First, I get to go to church.  As a younger kid I never thought that I would learn to actually look forward to going to church every Sunday.  But now, Sunday mornings are my favorite part of the week.  I currently attend God's House out here and Marion and I love it.  It is a VERY different and somewhat unconventional church, but it's one of the most real churches I have ever been to.  It mainly consists of college students with a few Sundays having a heavy adult populace.  I just really like how there is nothing to hide and how they are so open.  Do I think that sometimes they take things a little too far? Well maybe.  Especially when they throw together their random conversations after the service is technically over.  At times they may be a little risqué even for me.  Nonetheless, I always feel inspired and like I got something from the service.  This is actually the start of this post.  God's house today.

 Last week Pastor Ryan started a series that he called "Swag".  I think the idea behind the word is recognizing who you are and what you reflect to others.  I believe it is somewhere along the lines of walking to walk.  Todays definition of Swag was "How I live that illuminates God.  Who I am that says who God is."  This is certainly an interesting thing to think about.  What about me reflect God?  And is that thing about me reflecting God well?  Anyone who has ever spent time with me can see that I love to spread joy.  I love to make people laugh at whatever expense.  Yes, this occasionally gets taken too far, but I love being silly to get a positive reaction from people.  I think this is a positive way to reflect God.  Perhaps I like the word "illuminate" that was used -- kinda reminds me of glowing.  How do I glow in a way that people see God on me/through me?  Pastor Ryan claims to have invented the Platinum rule: Do unto others as it they were you.  An interesting change to the Golden Rule, and a good place to start.  Philippians 2:14-16 (Actually, just the very end of verse 15) was used in the sermon.

 14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”[a] Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

Yeouch.  Kinda wish that I didn't look up the verse, could have really done without verse 14.  Looks like I still have some serious work to do there.  What an incredible challenge for many of us.  But don't stop at 14!  Observe the rewards!  The part about shining like starts was the part on the sermon notes, and what a reward.  I would fully enjoy having a "Swag" that shone like the stars.  Along the same lines and another part of the sermon was Jesus turning over the tables in the temple.  At first you may wonder what these things have in common.  The challenge posed to the congregation was to consider what tables we would turn over.  We are defined by the tables we turn over.  Its interesting to think that there are things as Christians that SHOULD make us angry.  Jesus himself was angry.  What parts of the world make us angry?  What parts should make us angry?  These things can be different for everyone.  For me one of the things that makes me angry are youth groups that provide dry shallow messages every week.  There is nothing to learn from the same stale simple message if you are a stronger Christian.  There are some people that might need the simple "Jesus Loves You" message, but why not just challenge the spiritually young with the spiritual best?  Why not set the bar high?  This is one of the reasons that I have consider doing something in youth ministry.  To bring seriousness and depth to "easy going" youth groups.  That would be one of my primary goals as a youth leader.  Inspire to be the best, to take steps of faith and not just hop up and down in the same safe, comfortable spot.  This is my table to turn, what is yours?

 The second thing that I like about Sundays is that I often get the opportunity to play Frisbee with some great people.  There is nothing like playing Frisbee with a bunch of Christians.  Sometimes the games get a little serious or intense, but most the time it is some great Christian fellowship with some safe competition.  The group is completely open to everyone no matter the age or skill level.  I have seen kids around age 10 play with us weekly to an occasional guy probably near 30 playing.  These games are something that I will greatly miss after my time at IWU is over.  This type of community is not something that is found everywhere.  Another thing that I really enjoy about Frisbee is that I am pretty good at it.  I am not the best, but I feel like I look pretty good most the time out there and it provides a healthy humble amount of confidence.

The one thing that I don't like about Sundays is Monday being the next day.  There is nothing inherently wrong with Monday, but I never have my homework done on time.  I always find myself staying up really late to finish some kind of work I put off all weekend.  Not this week though.  I was done with my assignments before midnight, and I even managed to get ahead in a few classes on Saturday.  I am weeks behind on my senior project, but that will come.  For right now, life is all right.  Could always be better, but could always be worse.  I am content.  Especially when I get to start off with a good message Sunday mornings.  Sunday, my favorite day of the week.

My challenge this time is to encourage people to think about what makes them angry.  Angry in a spiritual way, angry in a way to inspire action.  The greatest enemy to "Swag" is passivity, and passivity is fed by excuses.

Your friend, brother, and companion in Christ,
Zach Haas