Faith and the Buffalo Bills

"I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."

The words are from a tweet by Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson following his awful day against the Steelers.  The dropped pass will follow Stevie for years to come, both personally and professionally.  Until he has the chance to win the big game with a catch (and I believe that he will) THIS is going to be the play for which he is remembered.   And that’s really too bad.  Prior to this game Stevie Johnson has been an incredible addition to the Bills and a lot of fun to watch.

What jumped out at me though is what he said in his tweet.  It’s a great chance to take a look at some commonly held beliefs.  Let’s break the tweet down:

(And Stevie, why all the SHOUTING?  I’ll do this in polite cyber- tones)

“I praise you 24/7”  A good place to start and I’ll take him at his word.  The problem is, quite simply, yeah, so what?  Does God owe you something because you praise Him?  No, it’s our place and duty to praise the Creator of the Universe (and us too).  It is our appropriate response to the Divine.  If we DON’T praise Him 24/7 will God somehow be deprived by that lack?  Again, no.  I believe that God is saddened when we don’t pray to Him on a regular basis but we can’t gain the upper hand in “negotiations” with God by withholding prayer.  So pray for the right reasons, not because you think you gain something by it.

“And this how you do me?” Um, no.  Let’s get past the idea that God gives a darn about football games.  Even better let’s get past the whole idea that every time something bad happens in our lives it’s God’s fault.  You see the underlying assumption there is that our lives would be perfect if God didn’t keep messing them up.  I hope you can see how screwed up that idea is without a long explanation from me.  No Stevie, God gave you all the tools you needed to make that catch.  Your quarterback put the ball right where it was supposed to be and the Steelers defense (sigh, lifelong Steelers fan here) left you WIDE OPEN IN THE END ZONE (sorry, I promised not to shout)!  And you dropped the ball.  You did it Stevie.  Not God.

“You expect me to learn from this???? How???!!! I’ll never forget this!! Ever!!!”  Three thoughts but all related.  God expects us to learn from everything.  The good.  The bad.  The boring.  Life is not a spectator sport.  You’ve got to keep your head in the game as the football players say.  How do you learn?  One way is by not forgetting what happened to you.  It’s about remembering how bad it feels when you screw up and hurt the folks around you.  The memory of that pain is a great way to work hard to avoid ever being in that position again.  Remember the joy of getting it right.  That’s inspiration to do what it takes to get back there as well.  Pay attention.  Make sure you use your gifts to the best of your ability, every time, all the time.  Trust me, no matter what age you are you’re not done learning.  Thinking you know everything is the best way to set yourself up for some major pain and failure.

“Thx tho”  In the end Stevie gets it right.  Even when you’re mad at God (and getting mad at God has a long and distinguished history.  It’s OK, God understands) always remember to say thanks.  Thanks for your life, thanks for your gifts, thanks for the person or people in your life that makes a difference, thanks for the chance to be the person making a difference.   Thanks for kittens and puppies and sunsets and thunderstorms.  Thanks for all things that make you special and your life special along side.

In the meantime say a little prayer for Stevie Johnson.  A lot of people are dumping on him right now.  He feels terrible.  Remember what it felt like the last time you screwed up.  Pray that God will help ease his pain.  And give him another chance to win a game for our Bills.

Peace

Jay

On the Election of a new bishop

It's a difficult time.

For a lot of us it is a reminder that a relationship we value is coming to an end. We are “losing” our bishop. Changes in relationship are always painful. Of course we always knew this change was coming, it's a natural and normal part of the process but that doesn't change the pain.

Then there's the whole election thing. It means that many of us didn't end up getting our first choice. Of course that's part of the process as well. Let's take a look at that process for a second.

This election took place in a community of faith. Like most of us I didn't actually have a vote. People from my parish (another election) were trusted to make this decision on my behalf. I trusted them to make that decision carefully, prayerfully and while listening with their hearts to hear God's direction. So if I trust them and trust that God wants what is best for that portion of his children known as the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York then I need to trust their decision.

And that can be hard sometimes. It's not something that “polite Episcopalians” would normally speak of but the reality is that some folks really liked/really disliked some of the candidates. Which means that some folks saw this election as a huge win/terrible loss. We're not supposed to talk about that but let's be honest. Some folks are happy with the choice, some are not, the rest are hopeful. Happens in every diocese every time.

So what do we do? Our faith declares us to be people of hope. Our next bishop won't be as good as some people hope and he won't be as bad as some people fear. In faith and hope we need to be open to the possibilities of this new relationship. We need to be prepared to offer our support and council to our new bishop-elect and to listen prayerfully to the council and leadership he will offer us. It's the exact same process we went through when Bishop Garrison was elected.

Being a bishop isn't easy. My question for all of us in the youth ministries of the diocese, youth and adult, lay and clergy, is this – will we chose to work with the bishop-elect for the glory of God and the health of the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York or will we chose to hang out to our disappointment and become a stumbling block.

Have a joyous and thankful Thanksgiving.

Peace

Jay

Stair Dance

We have been greatly blessed with four amazing candidates to be our next bishop. May the Holy Spirit's voice be heard by all my brothers and sisters voting tomorrow.

In the meantime here is an amazing video featuring one of the four!

Checking in From Home

Just a quick update video so you can see that I'm doing OK.