That’s Entertainment?

No answer for life’s great crises or paradoxes will be found in this submission. I deal with a tension in my soul every time I allow myself to think of the ridiculousness of the question. What is entertaining and why?

The upcoming Super bowl prompts this self-directed question. I would like to spend, though I may not get to, three hours watching a bunch of guys fighting over an oblong ball. They will huddle in a circle for several seconds. Then for several more seconds they will try to take that ball across a manicured field. All that time they will be pushing each other, knocking each other down, and getting paid millions of dollars in front of millions of people. Can I justify three hours for that!

I enjoy watching NCIS. The writers generally put in less blood than most good guy-bad guy shows, and I love watching Abby’s miracles with all those computers and analyzers. Who do you know has the analytical skills of Gibbs? At times I’m just in awe.

Then there is the Bourne Trilogy. Watching Jason Bourne is liking watching McGiver with a gun in his hand. By the way I really miss McGiver. He is my kind of good guy. Bourne is after the bad guy and tries to do what’s right at every turn. He even refuses to shoot someone who has been trying to kill him. I find this entertaining.

Competition does not have to be violent, yet it can be very exciting. Watching runners is an example. You have to admire the training that is endured to produce the performance necessary for an under four-minute mile. The 100-meter dash that produces someone who carries the title of fastest man in the world can get you to hold your breath throughout the race! This is great entertainment.

Yet I look at our darker side and I have to ask myself that question, why do I find football entertaining. I can say that I enjoy watching the spiral in a 60-yard touchdown pass. I love the athletic ability exhibited when the receiver has to make a 36 inch vertical leap to catch it. I am energized as I watch a running back break through a hole created by his offensive line and race for a 98 yard touchdown.

Then there is the defensive back with the smarts to read the offensive play and gets himself in just the right position to intercept a pass. I admire the speed that a safety finds when he realizes he is the last line of defense against a sure touchdown pass and he outruns the receivers for a play-ending tackle only a few yards before the end zone. I find this all exciting.

I also like seeing the defensive line of my team smash through the offense of the team I don’t like. We’re talking full body contact here! I like seeing my team’s offense knock the other team’s defense on their backs into the grass as well. I enjoy seeing all this too.

In college I once asked a classmate if he was going to the football game that afternoon. He said he wasn’t. I asked why. His response? “I’ve seen a football game.” All the aspects of the game I found enjoyable, he found a waste of time. I could say the same thing my college friend said about a car race on a big oval track . It seems to me people only watch the things in hopes of seeing a wreck. I’ve seen a car race.

Whatever part of the Super Bowl I get to see, I intend to enjoy. Yet I still have to ask myself the question, is there a difference in the pleasure I get in watching highly trained athletes perform well and the burst of energy I get from seeing a hard tackle or someone getting their feet cleaned out from under them. Sports can lead us to strive for physical and mental improvement that simple acknowledgement for the need might never do. But do we need the violence to provide the entertainment? Have we really changed all that much from the days of the Roman coliseum?

Freedom Of and Freedom From

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” On January 16 President Obama called on Americans to remember and practice our religious freedom. This action has been taken by each president since William Clinton in 1996.

Religious Freedom Day has a simple but meaningful history. “Each year, the President declares January 16th to be Religious Freedom Day, and calls upon Americans to ‘observe this day through appropriate events and activities in homes, schools, and places of worship.’ (President Obama, Jan. 16, 2013) The day is the anniversary of the passage, in 1786, of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. We encourage schools to recognize Religious Freedom Day during the school week leading up to January 16.” (from religiousfreedomday.com)

Following are some of the comments from the President’s Proclamation:

“Foremost among the rights Americans hold sacred is the freedom to worship as we choose. Today, we celebrate one of our Nation's first laws to protect that right -- the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Written by Thomas Jefferson and guided through the Virginia legislature by James Madison, the Statute affirmed that ‘Almighty God hath created the mind free’ and ‘all men shall be free to profess ... their opinions in matters of religion.’ Years later, our Founders looked to the Statute as a model when they enshrined the principle of religious liberty in the Bill of Rights.

“Because of the protections guaranteed by our Constitution, each of us has the right to practice our faith openly and as we choose. As a free country, our story has been shaped by every language and enriched by every culture…

“Today, we also remember that religious liberty is not just an American right; it is a universal human right to be protected here at home and across the globe. This freedom is an essential part of human dignity, and without it our world cannot know lasting peace.

“As we observe Religious Freedom Day, let us remember the legacy of faith and independence we have inherited, and let us honor it by forever upholding our right to exercise our beliefs free from prejudice or persecution.” (Excerpts from the President’s Proclamation declaring January 16, 2013 as Religious Freedom Day, Huffington Post, January 22, 2013)

In the hours following the President’s Proclamation, the digital ink flowed from both supporters and detractors of the president’s words. John Ragosta writing in the Washington Post (“Something to Celebrate on Religious Freedom Day”, January 16, 2013), rejoiced that the proclamation fully expressed both the breadth and the limitations of religious freedoms enjoyed by our citizenry.

The opposite perspective was taken by writers such as Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison who, when writing “Endangered Religious Freedom Day?” in the American Thinker (Jan. 16, 2013), felt that the President was being less than true to his words. They quoted Thomas Jefferson as saying, ‘To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.’ This interpretation would lead one to believe that not only can you not tax a man to support a church he rejects, neither can you force him to support financially an act he feels morally repugnant. This would seem to make the contraceptive insurance requirement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unconstitutional if we have a Jeffersonian concept of religious freedom.

Our constitution says we have freedom of religion. That must include the freedom to allow religion to play no role in our individual lives. The question we face more today, however, is not whether we are free to have a religious belief or not. Rather the question is may our religion be more than a set of beliefs held in private and never expressed in public through action. May our religion govern our beliefs and our actions toward others in ways that do not limit their expressions of religion or their search for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Where can the government say my religious freedom has its boundaries? May the God some of us recognize guide our courts to come to His conclusion.

Putting the New in the New Year

Individuals have to make the decision. Companies have to make the decision. Governments have to make the decision. Churches have to decide if they will take that crucial step and put the new in the new year.

Governments have to look at past actions, results, and the costs that brought about those results.

Companies set goals and decide what must happen to reach those goals. They explore the new to reach their targets.

Individuals who are not happy with the status quo look for something new to try or create.

Churches are no different. Unless they are satisfied with the status quo and are convinced that God is also happy with the status quo, they will try something new.

Trying something new means moving into the different, the strange, the unfamiliar, and out of the common and comfortable. How ready are we for that?

Trying something new means adding something to your skill set or your memory bank. Brain cells are connected in new ways. Muscles are stretched and strengthened. New experiences broaden the ability to deal with new situations. Our lives are enriched as we experience the “new”.

This all sounds so exciting! Why don’t we seek out and try the new more often? A goal means moving beyond the status quo into something different, unless your goal is to make sure nothing new happens to you.

Bilbo Baggins, the main character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s wonderful work The Hobbit, says quite clearly in the beginning of the story that he has no use for adventures. A cozy home with lots of food and a pipe filled with good tobacco are all he ever wants out of life. Yet he soon finds himself swept up in a journey that will change his life forever. That is what can happen if you ever first put your foot on a path and open yourself to something new.

As individuals we can face the future as a wonderful adventure that will enrich our lives by seeking out the new. Companies must do that if they are to survive in an ever changing world. And churches, we Christians who as the Body of Christ are supposed to be carrying on his work, what are we seeking that is new?

Jesus could have sat in Jerusalem or even somewhere on the beach at the Sea of Galilee and waited for all the people to come to him. Some would, but a lot wouldn’t. Other rabbis did that. He didn’t. He went to the people. He traveled the roads of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee and a couple of side trips beyond. He went into new areas to meet new people to offer them an unbelievable adventure.

Churches should follow suit. The world doesn’t know about the great adventure that Jesus is offering. It sees no reason to come into our church facilities in search of something new. We need to go out to them. We need to try something new in order to offer something radical to the world.

"To create a new standard it takes something that's not just a little bit different. It takes something that's really new and really captures people's imaginations. And the Macintosh, of all the machines I've ever seen, is the only one that meets that standard." (Bill Gates) Gates was talking about a computer, but Jesus was talking about a way of life and its new standards and perspectives (John 10:10). The old isn’t good enough. The status quo cannot stay the same in an ever changing world. The new has to come!

Of course it may not seem like something new to us, but maybe that is because we have never allowed the eternal newness of the Gospel to lead us on that path into the future God has waiting for us. We need to experience that new adventure so we can share it with someone else. Just like Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit, we need to get out of the front doors of our church buildings and throw ourselves into the new adventure of introducing the world to Jesus Christ and the greatest adventure of all.

What Is It Worth To You?

Super Bowl ads are selling in excess of three and a half million dollars for a thirty second spot. As of Jan. 2 maybe two were left for the February 3^rd game. CBS expects to set a record for revenue with this year’s event. At those prices, that is not surprising.

One report added that at least three commercials were in excess of one minute in length. Unless the business got a discount, that puts the price for their spot near eight million dollars. Somebody somewhere thinks that the time in front of all those millions of people is worth it. If I get to see the game, I’ll be the stereotypical viewer that uses commercial breaks to head for the refrigerator.

We are always placing value on the things around us be they material or otherwise. We place value on commercial advertising time. We place value on the time we spend watching the football game. Woe to the church that tries door-to-door visitation during that three hour block! We place value on the people with whom we share that time. We may even place a value on the place in which we share it.

The team owners place value upon the team members. The team members place value upon the other members of the team. The spectators who attend have placed a significant value upon their tickets and seats. For some that value extends to the great expense to which they went just to get to the game.

We place a level of value on everything. Some things we categorize as having no value at all. The other extreme includes those people, things, and ideas for which we are willing to give up life itself to show our level of value. In between are all those aspects of our lives about which we make value judgments every day.

What is the worth to you of your context and what it contains? I dream of wealth and then tell myself that I would starve to death sitting in a room filled with gold. Ask King Midas. Invest in gold, but if you are not willing to sell it, you starve to death or freeze to death or cannot pay the doctor for her care. Wealth has value for what it can do, not for what it is. A lot in life is like that.

Other things in life have their value in what they are rather than what they can do in and of themselves. A beautiful rose brings us pleasure both visually and through its fragrance. A cut sapphire is only a cold stone yet its beauty and quality place it in a different category from common flint. People will travel great distances to see the water cascade over Niagara Falls and only because of the beauty represented in its awesome power.

A baby’s laugh, the soft touch of the hand of a friend, their silent presence in a moment of grief, honesty, sincerity, faithfulness, wisdom, and so much more have nothing to do with monetary value. We place tremendous value upon such things and yet cannot begin to measure that value in dollars and cents. The writer of Proverbs says, “Happy is anyone who becomes wise – who comes to have understanding. There is more profit in it than there is in silver; it is worth more to you than gold.” (Proverbs 3:13-14, Good News Translation)

Individuals and churches, maybe governments as well, need to reevaluate on a regular basis what is of greatest value to them. Our values should determine our priorities and therefore our actions. For businesses that is generally making a profit. For churches and Christ followers the most valuable priority is living out the relationship we have with our God. What he considers of value, we must also. Wisdom that comes from spending much time with him will show us that. Time spent with God always carries the greatest value.