Spiritual Disciplines in Dodgeball

I've long questioned why in the world we play dodgeball in churches. It's violent, there's usually someone that gets angry...I haven't quite worked out how we're working for justice, mercy, peace or making disciples.

But...it does get people in the door. In this way I've found it to be valuable and just a good time.

Tonight, however, I found it to be spiritually helpful.

Our team got whooped...and I mean whooped bad. Games are timed to last 45 minutes. We lost 7 games and there was still 24 minutes on the clock. Lost 7 games and won 2 in a little over 20 minutes. I'll accept that the other team was probably more athletic, threw harder and maybe a little more organized than ours...so I wasn't upset about losing, I was upset at one of the other players.

Sports brings out the best and the worst in humanity. Lately it seems that the worst, however, has been glorified as competitive, gamesmanship, call it what you will. Tonight, I needed the holy spirit and got it.

Another player on the opposing team may have been just goofing off, but got a lot of our players really upset when he would point his finger at our players and taunt them or yell or whatever else he would do, and I'll admit that the pastor, me, was infuriated with this young man. I lost control of rational thinking. Typically I would have made excuses for him, but I just wanted to pelt him with a dodgeball to make him be quiet and leave the game, but something strange happened.

As I retrieved a dodgeball from the back wall and went up to throw I felt compelled to not throw at this young man, but to throw at one of the other players, so I did. What's strange about that is that I wasn't in danger of being hit by them or they weren't available targets to hit...I simply felt like I couldn't throw in anger. The holy spirit disciplined me.

The word discipline is not like you hear in the principles office. It is not a punishment. It is withholding action that is detrimental so that one's life will be lived more righteously. When we talk about the spiritual disciplines of fasting, praying, giving money and others we are typically describing behaviors that involve going out of the way of what we WANT to do, in order to do things we NEED to do for the health of our spirit. When we abstain from food, Facebook or cell phones we are showing that God is really all we need. We we pray, we are setting aside valuable time and showing trust in the God who listens and responds.

Had I thrown the dodgeball out of anger I believe I would have been sinning. I would have lost control of myself and played sports to defeat my opponent and shame him at the same time.

Sports is not about defeating your opponent. Sports is about accomplishment, doing it right, having fun and playing the game correctly. Victory in dodgeball or any other sport requires discipline, knowing how to play the right way as to not detriment yourself or your team.

Had I lost control and thrown the ball out of anger I would have given in to selfishness, pride, anger and other attributes that turn a fun game/life into a disaster in the making.

As it happened...we won that game, and I got the other guy out on that throw. Turns out my own agendas aren't quite as important as the team's after all. I wonder if our lives with God are the same way?

The Problem with "Free"

April 15th was crazy. Not because I hadn't filed my taxes yet but because of the masses of free and discounted stuff being given away! Unfortunately my daughter was sick, but as we were leaving the doctor's office I noticed a coupon for a free hamburger at Scotty P's just down the road. This would be capatalized on, as would the free pizza from Mr. Jim's and the free coffee from Starbucks.

All in the name of tax day relief. I'm glad these businesses have my back, I always knew they cared.

It was crazy, we waited almost an hour for a 5 dollar hamburger, just because it was free. Even crazier, we had food going bad at home in our refridgerator that we had worked hard to prepare and was probably healthier. And truth be told, in college and other places, I've seen crazier and more dangerous behavior done for free stuff.

After waiting 30 minutes for my free small (very small) pizza, which was...okay...I got to thinking about the nuttiness that offering something for free will get you 20 times more visitors than any normal day. Did these businesses simply care about me this one day because I was ever so stressed about my taxes? Probably not.

But they have an advantage that the church does not. The church has to offer grace for free, there's no other way to do it. Grace for us comes at a cost that we don't have to pay, because God already declared it done through Jesus Christ. It's hard to claim that you are serving God and make people pay for grace at the church.

Businesses make people pay for their stuff every day, which I suppose in our world adds value to the importance of the product. If I have to pay for it, then I'm more invested in it. When the good is given away, it's amazing, because what once cost $5 is now nothing...what a deal!

And I think...

We're giving away grace, love, peace, justice, hope every day, all day FOR FREE!!! And I wonder why people are chomping at the bit to get in the door. Some people claim the church demands too much money, which we ask for 10% of income as a tithe. That's 90% that is spent on hamburgers and coffee. Some people claim the church is invalid in today's society, which will never be the case, but I hope that will not come in the minds of the world. I say never because the church is the body of Christ and will eternally be linked with the eternal one...and I'm guessing that'll last a lot longer than Mr. Jim's pizza.

So the only two reasons I can think of are:
1) Churches aren't doing a good enough job communicating the free stuff
2) We haven't invested enough as individuals in the churches we love, for the church to truly make a difference in our and other's lives.

They say there's no such thing as a free lunch. Perhaps there is no such thing as free grace either. Perhaps when you receive the free grace of God, with no strings attached, there is nothing you can do but go out and serve God with your whole being.

The problem with free...it messes up comfortable in this case.