Our thanks to Brendan Armitage for his offering this week’s devotion! (Has he inspired you to try your hand at this?)
And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:1-3)
Basketball, like the rest of life, is a “relative” game, isn’t it? Let me explain.
In basketball, you’ve only to do better than the other side, the opposition. You may be slow, but if the opponent is slower, then you’ll succeed and win the game handily.
It’s the same in life. Our Lord gave us 10 simple commandments when we humans were brought out of Egypt, the summary of which might be to honor God and not be awful to those around us.
In church, that’s a simple thing. Surrounded by other polite people, away from the lure of business, and perhaps on our best behavior of the week, we succeed admirably at our task of honoring God and not being awful to those around us, don’t we? Good for us! Not much opposition here.
But then there’s the rest of the week. The commute that’s easily 10 minutes too long. The boss who is often quite unreasonable (and certainly doesn’t act at all as a Christian), and the neighbor who doesn’t cut their grass, doesn’t bathe particularly well, and probably votes for that other political party. How do we act around them? How well do we keep to those 10 commandments then? How hard is it to beat the opposition that wants something out of us that’s not our best self?
Herein lies your own secret weapon. Use it daily. It’s called “church”. It’s the place at Delp Road and 501 yes, but it’s also the place inside your head where you know your best self, the self that God made a servant of His kingdom. Use “church” to get yourself into that place daily or even hourly as you need.
Martin Luther recognized the need to take communion as often as it was offered, because he knew the challenges of the world outside of church, just as you are challenged today. And where is the only place you can get communion? The only place where you can commune with fellow believers who will reinforce your desire to be your best you? That’s right. Church.
So for today and for all your tomorrows, pray to see church as more than just a Sunday morning “obligation”. Pray that you see church as an anchor point of you, your best self. Pray that you see St.Peter’s as a core part of your personal Mission, here on God’s green earth.
See you at (St Peter’s) church,
