Monday, September 14, 2015

Devotion 9.14.15

It occurred sometime in the late 1800s according to my historical research.  See, the bands of local universities would play every Saturday in the fall at that time, and one day, Fennius Worchblach at Brethren State University out in the territories, asked the band director if his football team might play before and after the band performs against the newly formed Ag Tech.  The band director thought it might be a great way to bring a bigger crowd to the performance, and so he conceded to Fennius.

Today the tradition continues.  Thousands gather to watch the band surrounded by two halves of football.  Actually, I grow disheartened at halftime when thousands actually poor out of the stadium when the band comes on the field because I love a good halftime show (and personally speaking the Goin' Band from Raiderland is a great halftime show).  Even television has dumped halftime shows in favor of Larry, Curly, and Moe talking ad nauseum about a game whose stats are really not all that interesting (comparatively speaking - baseball being the statistical sport of this nation).  What has caused this phenomenon?  Supposedly the fantasy football movement.  Fans are now obsessed with hearing analyses because we are selecting teams ourselves, and in some cases spending a great deal of money to do so.  Consequently, we get some ex-players to toss on a pair of glasses and use words that have more than one syllable, and we deem them worthy of analysis.

It does seem, however, that the fan base grows in sports as fans become more engaged in the game via activities like fantasy football, baseball, basketball, golf.... and others I'm sure.

How are we in terms of engagement in our faith?  What is it that we seek in terms of being involved in something we deem to be central to who we are?  A friend of mine (elderly gentleman named Juergan) was fond of saying, "Christianity is a full contact sport!  Are you in the game or on the sideline?"  Well, are we in the game?

One aspect of engagement is prayer.  Christ demonstrated the importance of prayer throughout his ministry, teaching us how to pray and being deeply in prayer on the night of his arrest.  In Matthew 6, he starts by warning, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them...."  (v 1) Engagement in faith is not a "thing" to be put on display.  He continues in verse 5 by stating that when we pray, we "must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, that they may be seen by others.... But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father in private."

We pray to our Lord for various things.  We confess our sins, give thanks for our blessings, and ask for things we believe we need.  But I don't know what to say, some will answer.  "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray as we ought ,but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." (Romans 8:26)

We pray to God in earnest as part of our faith He has given us.  Sometimes we don't know how to ask or what to say, but God's Spirit will intercede for us as our words fail us.  Pray for that engagement in faith in Christ Jesus.

Hope Men's Ministry

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