Partaking

As another holiday break comes to a close, I find myself thankful for time spent with family and friends. I also realize that, being a full-time student, I'm going back to a life dominated by quick meals eaten alone. Now don't start pitying me...I actually like the time alone-especially in the morning. But that's not the point. So I'll move on.

"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Acts 2: 46-47b

Holiday meals are special. They are traditional. My family usually requests the same dishes every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year. Although I doubt I coined the phrase, I found myself thinking "This tastes like Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's Eve." Holiday meals just taste better to me. It's great food that only comes around once or twice a year. But I think there's more to it than that.

I think meals are best when shared and enjoyed intentionally. This means we (I) have to resist the temptation to 1) eat fast, 2) eat on the go, or standing up, 3) eat alone if we/I want to fully experience the blessing of a meal. Meals seem to be naturally communal: talking, sharing, laughing are all part of a great meal experience. I've also read recently about the benefits of sitting and passing food rather than buffet style eating: when we pass the food it is shared and referred to as "the/our ___" rather than "my/ ___" or "mine." In order to more fully enjoy meals, we (again, I) must not see them as a fill station- a place to stop quickly, get what I need and move on, but instead linger and enjoy the blessing of communion in a meal. Also, meals must (for me) regain their status as a blessing- something to give thanks for before, during, and after the meal.

To borrow a thought from a book I recently read: when these become our mealtime practices, we celebrate each meal as partaking in The Table...that is the breaking of bread and eating "together with glad and sincere hearts."

Coachable

I love sports. Watching, playing, talking...I just love sports. One thing I wish I'd learned much earlier in my life was how to be more coachable. I don't think that I was ever a coach's nightmare but I never really learned how to take criticism well. And I certainly never learned to seek out criticism in order to get better. I preferred to learn from seeing and then trying to imitate. But that leaves lots of room for errors in form and technique.

"That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe." 1 Timothy 4: 10

I feel that matters of faith aren't too different for me. In the past year and a half I've learned a lot about things that I wish I'd known before. In talking with a peer, we both expressed this sentiment and my peer even said, "I find myself asking, how did I not know this already?"

I'm still learning about sports and faith, and I find myself asking this question more often than I'd like to admit. Going back to being a student has forced me to become more coachable. I'm reading books by respected theologians, and discussing them with professors and peers. Growing in knowledge is work. In sports, you're never too good to work on fundamentals. The same can be said for matters of faith. As followers of Christ, we are called to constantly work out our faith: spend time reading, discussing, and allowing ourselves to be "coached."

Room for error

I recently read an article in the school newspaper about a lecture given by ESPN's VP of event production (here's a link to the article http://dukechronicle.com/article/kristiansen-details-espn-s-evolution ), and thought his comments about risk and failure were interesting. I would encourage you to read the article, but if you don't want to: he basically said that ESPN has become what it is today through taking risks and getting involved in numerous areas beyond their original niche. In one of my favorite parts of the summary of his lecture, he says that "at ESPN... you're encouraged not to be afraid to fail."

"He told them:“Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere." Luke 9: 3-6

Failure is quite the F-word in the world/culture I come from. There's not a whole lot worse or more embarrassing than failure for many people (including myself) that I know. In fact, the chance of failure can be so terrifying that it becomes paralyzing.

Being freed from a fear of failure can be quite liberating, yet also perplexing as we're unsure how to assess our own performance. I can imagine Jesus' disciples feeling glad to have instructions for failure in their being "sent out" in this passage, but still wondering what would be the terms by which they were graded.

I wonder if freeing people from a fear of failure would produce more innovative and efficient work to be done at work, at home, at school...etc.? How can we become more accepting of failure as a way of encouraging responsible risk taking? What if we became less surprised by failure of our co-workers, friends, and family?

PS- It's also worth noting that Jesus gives the disciples authority to drive out demons and heal sicknesses before sending them out or instructing them in case of failure.