One for the true believers

It is State of Origin time and – of much greater interest to me personally – it is also World Cup time. I didn’t watch all of last night’s game; but saw enough to feel a pang of jealousy! There were almost 80,000 people there in soaking wet conditions to cheer their respective teams. Come World Cup time some people – me included - will be getting out of bed at all sorts of hours to watch their team take on the worlds best and then somehow stagger off to do whatever the day holds for them.

You learn a lot when God calls you to do new church stuff. Occasionally I will have a fight with the Almighty and ask why I couldn’t just have some nice little church somewhere and do nice little church stuff. However, I acknowledge that the Lord does have a sense of humour and clearly prefers to have me as light relief for boring moments in heaven.

Where am I heading with my bit of waffle this week? Well you see it is those 80,000 that bugged me. How come they were there – most to see their team lose – on a night unfit for human habitation? One of the things that I have learnt about doing new church stuff is that disappointment is normal. Almost 80,000 at the footy and on Pentecost Sunday, the third biggest festival of the church, we had one of our lowest adult attendances of the year? Conditions were good, the weather cool but fine, with parking right next to the stadium and all seating under cover. Strange days indeed.

I have a theory. It is always good to have a theory as I believe it helps to keep you sane and it is actually one of the reasons that I keep pouring out things like my usually regular waffling. For those who love Rugby League there has been no shortage of pre-match entertainment. For weeks now there has been endless speculation as to who will be in and who will miss out. Is so and so fit and will whatsisname fire up on the big day? The thing is that fans absolutely devour it all. By the time the game comes around we are as match fit with information as the players are fit for the game. They love it! It isn’t just the event but the lead up the speculation and anticipation is as exciting as the game.

The church? I don’t think we love it!? As a matter of fact it is counter cultural in good old Oz to love something like the church, or even perhaps God. All things in moderation dear friends, let’s not get too excited here.

I believe that mankind has a default button that is hard wired to love and worship and so we will find things to satisfy these desires because love and worship is the oxygen of our being. The obvious question then is what do we put in place to satiate our desires?

So disappointment is normal and the question I face on a regular basis is how do I respond? Oh, I could head off for a pity party in the local phone booth with all of my friends, but you don’t see many phone booths these days. No, after a lot of years I have learned that the best way forward is to be at least true to myself. I will continue to push out some pre-match information to hopefully excite the fans and each month we will provide a regular progress report to monitor our journey. Our leadership group will continue to maintain and enhance our stadiums facilities and remain committed to providing opportunities for people to meet together in various situations to study form and even meet with the star of the show occasionally (that would be God not Jarryd Haynes).

Another thing I have learned about doing a new thing is you never stop doing a new thing. My constant challenge is not to worry about Origin 2 of 2010 that is way too short sighted for this gig. We are talking about eternal stuff here not footy. I will try, as best as I know how, to keep us finely tuned to be open to new opportunities under God to build His church. I’m 62 going on 16 and still foolishly believe that what we are on about is a darned sight more important than a footy match. As a matter of fact I am convinced it is the basis of our being.

I know; I’m a fanatic! Just like those 80,000.

Cheers - John