Open Mike

Fragile People, like Jerry West

Everyone you encounter today is so much more fragile than you know.

Jesus lived and taught, "Love your neighbor...they will know you belong to me by your love...I came to serve, do likewise."  This means that every conversation is a mission-from-God for those who follow Jesus.  To serve fragile people by loving them with words and deeds in the moment.  Jesus knows the mental, physical, emotional, self-esteem, and spiritual fragility of every human being.  Its hard to live in this fallen world.
 Case-in-point.  Jerry West has always been the epitome to me of the strong, successful, stoic white male.  From afar.  He was so good in the NBA that its his actual image that makes the NBA logo today.  He wasn't just ridiculously good as a player (numerous championships), but as an NBA team executive he's overseen multiple championships for the Lakers.Yet here's a bit of what he revealed in a recent autobiography. 

"Jerry West says he has battled depression since childhood, when his father would beat the future Hall of Famer, causing low self-esteem that has plagued him despite a successful career as one of the NBA's biggest influences.  West says his West Virginia childhood was devoid of love and filled with anger as a result of his abusive father, who left him feeling tormented and worthless.

"I would go to bed feeling like I didn't even want to live," West says,"I've been so low sometimes and when everyone else would be so high because I didn't like myself." During 14 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers he was...driven by a fear of failure...Once the season ended, he would dwell on the defeats, including the Lakers' six NBA finals losses to the Boston Celtics. "He wouldn't speak for days at a time ... It worried me," Karen West says, adding that "Jerry doesn't say `I love you.'... Maybe once a year.""

As pastor, people let me see this fragile part of themselves more readily.  Its everybody, the whole human race, in one way or another.  So love people.  Today.  In every encounter.  Get your eyes off of yourself and how someone didn't quite measure up to what you wanted/needed from them in the moment.

Keep learning to do as the Bible teaches us and go to Jesus for the limitless, unconditional, divine love that your fragile soul needs today and every day.  'Quiet times/devotions' are no mere religious duty, they are the human spirit's daily bread, like the body needs sleep, the stomach needs food, the spirit needs to synch with Love.  Then pour it out to every person you encounter today.  Because they are so much more fragile than you know.

(read more about Jerry West http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/sports/basketball/in-autobiography-jerry-west-looks-deep-into-mirror.html?ref=sports )

Champs and Beginners: Pre-Worship Devotional

Before I lead the church by preaching God's Word each Sunday, I am first led spiritually by one of our Ministry Partners in a brief devotional moment.  We have a small, dedicated, skilled team of people who take turns being the weekly 'worship producer' - from 7am until 12:30pm they oversee the whole adult worship service three times.  These servants ensure that each participant and servant making the worship service happen knows the plan, their role in the plan, and that everything works together well, etc. 

After our run through of the service elements, the worship producer for that day gathers the whole worship team for that Sunday in our backstage green room (musicians, vocalists, camerapeople, tech, lights, speakers, etc.).  We run through the plan, then the producer leads us in a prayer moment, or a devotional to focus us for the morning.  Two weeks ago, Jeff "JT" Taylor was the producer.  His devotional was just what I needed to hear before the worship service.  I love being led this way, before I lead the church!  Here are Jeff's words, given to us at 7:50am two Sundays ago - its important stuff for all who call the church home (Thanks for writing this up, Jeff!):

About a month ago I had an opportunity to attend a water ski school. Skiing to me has always been about the fellowship and enjoying time together on the water….as my friend Clay always says, “it’s not about the ship, it’s about the fellows.”  That was never more clear than during my 3 days at ski school.

The group was made up of world and collegiate champions, experienced skiers just looking to hone their skills, and rank beginners, some of whom had never even been up on skis before. The youngest was 11, the oldest in his mid-50’s, from all corners of the US. By the end of the first morning, I noticed the champions had migrated off to their own group and were in deep debate and discussion about the most minute details of skiing. Many of us middle-of-the-roader’s tried to listen in, ask questions and pick up on some tips, but in the end, the champs were content to converse and ski amongst themselves.

Those of us in the experienced group spent most of our time learning new techniques, being critiqued by the coaches, breaking bad habits and trying to coax one more run out of bodies which hadn’t been in the water for 6 months. We quickly got to know each other and were mutually supportive, helpfully critical and most of all, glad to celebrate the small accomplishments that came with each pass. The beginners spent a lot of time with us. They watched, sometimes in awe, of the champions, but were too intimidated to talk with them for fear of asking a “dumb” question. We assured them that we had all been precisely in the same place they were—unfamiliar surroundings, everyone more experienced, unclear on expectations, a little embarrassed because they were likely to spend more time in the water than on it--- but that this was okay.

My experience at water ski school correlates almost exactly to what we see at church every week. We’ve seen the “champions”—they can quote a Bible verse for any occasion, know all the songs, know all the elders, pray every morning, lead mission trips, tithe every Sunday--- they are “worship” champions. Then there is the middle group, many of whom are committed in their walk, steadfast in their beliefs but usually have more questions than answers. The middle group is passionate, but appreciates encouragement and needs to know that progress is more important than perfection. Then there are the beginners. Church, worship, the Bible, the music….even God… are new and uncomfortable for the beginners. Its unfamiliar, intimidating territory for them

As a worship team, we have the challenge of “speaking” in a meaningful way to each of these groups every week. One of my frustrations with the water ski school was that the coaches were so content to let the cliques form—and never recognized what an impactful opportunity they missed by not encouraging dialog and relationship-building across each of the groups. One of the beginners was the CEO of a company and shared some profiles of success in business that all of the world champs would have benefited from greatly. Everyone has something to offer and everyone has something to learn. And that’s my prayer for today. That we take to time to minister to everyone—not just the champs or the beginners or those in the middle—but that we are the bridge that brings all of those people in to fellowship together as a gentle reminder of where we are in our walk with Christ…and that we all had to start somewhere.   

Jeff "JT" Taylor

Wow World Cup Worship

A snippet of a World Cup intro stopped me in my tracks last Saturday.  If you watch even 5 minutes of the World Cup and you're me, you notice that U2 music is the exclusive soundtrack to commercials, intros, outros, etc.  Which works for me - I love U2, they're the biggest band in the world, this is the biggest sports event in the world.  The core intro to the tourney on Saturday was this video - U2 performing 'Magnificent' live, interspersed with the Soweto Gospel Choir (I think the version i saw was interspersed with soccer highlights).

"Magnificent" is the most obvious Christian worship song U2 has performed in years ("Yahweh" the most obvious Christian prayer-song).  So I'm watching along with the rest of the world, and we see Bono literally worshipping God, raising his hands, saying 'you and I will magnify,'  interspersed with clips of the choir, various South Africans and soccer players (i can't find that version online).  Bono is singing of the magnificence of the LORD, while the video also celebrates the magnificence of cultures and exultancy in being human (celebrated in the Psalms as "made but a little lower than the angels").

The old me might have reacted this way: "how gross - U2 allowing a worship song to be coopted into a commercial for a game."  The me today LOVES it.  Here's what I take away:  When you do 'whatever you do' in work, art or play with recognizable excellence;  When you approach even being the best in the world at it, then you can naturally leak your faith into that 'thing you do' and people will not only accept it, they will admire it.

Cheer for the Other Side

I grew up an avid reader of Sports Illustrated.  My favorite Sportswriter is the guy below.  LFC's elder Grubbs turned me on to Reilly's recent post.  I love it - be-Ay-you-ti-ful:

Life of Reilly

There are some games in which cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

by Rick Reilly

Melinda Wright

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

"I WOULDN'T EXPECT ANOTHER PARENT TO TELL SOMEBODY TO HIT THEIR KIDS. BUT THEY WANTED US TO!"

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.