The Organization

My nickname is Sporty. As you may know, it is because, out of all my family members, I am probably the most knowledgeable about sport and I definitely am the one who enjoys sports the most. I love to watch and play most sports. That being said, while I love Hockey and the NHL and enjoy football and the NFL, I can't stand the NBA or MLB. I do enjoy playing both of them, though I am a much bigger fan of the other two sports, it's just those leagues don't intrigue me. I don't really care to watch MLB regularly or the NBA at all.
I started thinking about this the other day, and started to realize why I would rather play a sport over watching it. I feel that there is a lot of 'heart' and passion missing in the leagues. When I go out to play with my friends, I am going to play the sport to have fun, not for a paycheck or because it's, 'What I do'. I know any professional athlete, from someone playing in the Premier League to someone playing Aussie Rules Football, would tell you stories of their passion or the 'heart' they have for the game they play. But, honestly, I have a hard time believing it. There is something about going out there with friends, not knowing when you'll get a chance to play a sport again and that you're just going out to have fun with, hopefully, friends who are, hopefully, are the same skill level. To me, for a professional athlete to have the same passion for a sport as I or many 'Average Joes' do just doesn't make sense to me. I am not saying most Average Joes have more passion that most athletes, but I do think that the most passionate fans have more passion than the average athletes.
This got me thinking, randomly, about other organizations, specifically the Church. I look at sport leagues and the church in somewhat the same way. I do not see a way that a church can have as much passion as a group of people just meeting to talk about their beliefs and help teach each other. I really think that is the idea that churches are supposed to be built on, but, when you look around at churches, how many do you see that are actually that way? I see way too many churches that have implemented rules on themselves of how to act or how to study the Bible. The organic growth of people spirituality doesn't seem to be apparent anywhere that I have seen. I don't want anyone to be under the impression that I believe I can 'judge' where everyone spiritual levels are. It seems that most churches are almost a 'Christian Factory', they put you through the same things wherever you go and teach some of the same basic things everywhere. When people just meet in groups together and let the conversation evolve organically, you get a chance to let people grow in the way they specifically need to. No two people grow physically in the same way, why do churches seem to think that they grow spiritually at the same rate or level?

I don't know. Maybe this doesn't make much sense to anyone but me, and maybe it won't even make sense to me tomorrow. It's just my current thought. Hope you enjoy it.

Random Encounter

Two weeks ago, I thought it would be a good idea to start going to church again. I found a Nazarene church in my area and since I had been to one in Buffalo that I somewhat enjoyed, I decided to go. Last Sunday, I woke at about 7am, not on purpose, and got ready and just went to the 9am service. I was quickly greeted by an older gentleman named Will. I found out he is a pastor there and quickly treated me to the welcome speech. I didn't mind cause it was quick and involved a gift bag with a $5.00 gift card to Starbucks. He reminded me of Pastor Dave Hill from EHWC. He tells me about a Sunday school for college-aged people that starts at 9:30am and invites me to go next week. I thank him and enjoy the service. The service was decent, nothing ground breaking to me, but I figure I'll give it another try next week.

Next week come and I am again awake much earlier than I want to be. I decide to go to the Sunday school this week. I get there and there are only 4 other people. We chat for a bit and start talking about Isaiah. More people start coming in and one of the girls introduces herself as Laura, who I think is familiar looking. The name is familiar too. A few minutes later I realize that she is actually from my hometown and the sister of a friend of mine. After Sunday school she says that I look familiar. I respond, 'Yeah, my last name is Debo. Yours is Pasieka.' She actually remembers my brothers and going to the same church my family went to for years.

How random.

Church

Today, I went to an LDS church with my friend Brad. I don't really know much about the LDS church, so I thought it would be a neat thing to experience. And it was except for I forgot how uncomfortable I get in churches. I am not sure what it about churches that make me uncomfortable. It isn't like any of the people or the service itself made me uncomfortable. I think it is the fact that this is something all/most of these people share, this faith in their GOD and the belife that they are worshipping Him correctly. I guess that is where I am normally lost with most churches. All the rules and structures that churches put in place to 'worship' GOD. I can understand a lot of their reasons for meeting GOD in the ways and places they do, but I don't really agree. But I can agree to disagree with them and let them do their thing. Again, this applies to all churches, not just the one I went to yesterday.

The funny thing is that Brad had invited me to go with him last week. I couldn't because I had some work to do, but before he left, I saw him get into his car in a suit. I sort of regretted saying I would go with him cause I didn't have any nice clothes with me, so earlier in the week, Brad and I had to go get some dress clothes for me. Might I say, I look good dressed up. A bit sad that I didn't take a picture.