Jar of Change

As followers of Christ, we are supposed to hold to a different set of values than that of the world.What is important to us often seems foolish to them, and what they hold in high regard is not necessarily the same for us. At least, that is what we hear often enough from our spiritual leaders. Scripture backs them up as well.

I find it rather paradoxical then that professional sports works it's way into such a large percentage of our worship services. For something that matters so very little in this world, and even less in the one to come, it gets an awful lot of air time. And please, don't cite the example of the Apostle Paul's brief mention of sports as a precedent. I'm not talking about the occasional illustration.

Just to make sure that I am not being a grumpy, non-sports fan, stick-in-the-mud, I'm going to propose an experiment. I intend to designate a jar for this purpose, and fill it with 52 little footballs, basketballs, baseballs, and hockey pucks. What form they'll be in, I'm not sure yet. Each piece will represent a predetermined monetary amount--because I want this experiment to carry some weight. On the first Sunday of January, I'll begin. One piece will be removed on each Sunday in which professional sports is mentioned during the worship service. At the end of the year, whatever amount is left in the jar (by its representational pieces) will be given to our church.
Some stipulations:

• If I miss a Sunday, and don't listen to the recorded message, a piece will not be removed, even if sports was mentioned (because I won't know about it, will I?)
• Relevant illustrations relating to the sermons don't count. Heavy emphasis on relevancy.
• References during announcements should count, but I'll be lenient and let them slide.
• Outside guests speakers get a pass too.
• This is the only time, and only place that I intend to discuss this experiment until it's over. I don't want to skew the results. (I'm pretty sure that my Pastor is not one of the three people who read this blog. If he is, I'm not sorry.)

This feels a little one-sided, and judgmental, which is not my intention. I'm merely trying to see how pervasive sports is in our culture and how much it effects the Church. If would be more informative if I could find people from other churches to keep a tally of the same kind of information (even if it didn't involve money for them). I seriously doubt that my church is the only place this happens.
To level the playing field (sorry), I'm going to think of a task for me to work on as well.

I'll revisit this topic with the results at the end of next year. Let's hope the jar is still really full.

**Nevermind. After thinking this through some more, I have decided not to do it. It puts me in the wrong frame of mind from the start and sets me up for having a resentful attitude. I also puts me in a position of judgement. None of which is what I want. It is enough that the people who care about me know that it is a distraction from worship for me. I can leave it at that.

Rhetorical Answer

Rhetorical questions are dangerous. The person asking might not be expecting an answer, but that doesn't mean that my brain isn't going to devote hours to thinking about them anyway. Recently, a dear friend posed just such a question. And while I believe that she understands the depths this question plumbs, I don't know if she is expecting a response. This is for her.

The question is, can you miss someone you've never met?

My DH has several relatives that meant a great deal to his whole family, but they passed away before I met him. I wish I could have gotten to know them. So, in a sense, their absence creates a hole that cannot be filed. Does that longing mean that I miss them? I have friends across the globe that I know only through means of electronic communication. Can their distance cause pain? Do I have a right to grieve when they are gone?
Can you miss something that you never had in the first place? I dare you to ask that of any mother who has lost a child in the womb.
By extension, can you be homesick for a place you've never even seen?

"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God....These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." Heb 11:8-10, 13-16

 The writer of Hebrews also tells us that "Faith is the assurance (substance) of things hoped for, the conviction (evidence) of things not seen."  There is no need for faith where there is not a desire for things not realized yet. Look at that another way and you could go so far as to say that deep longing for what we have not experienced yet is the essence of faith. And that longing is centered around the person of Christ.

I Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
I John 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (Hallelujah!)

There is no doubt that there is a precedent for this idea. I know that not a day goes by when something does not remind me that this is not my true home and that my family is not complete here.
Our relationship with the Divine informs our human, earthly experience (or it should). Which brings us back to our original question.
Can you miss someone you've never met?

With every beat of my heart.