I'll Stand By You

I have had several times over the past few months I have had friends and even family jump all over me because of something I said.  It was usually when I was doing my best to follow Jesus.  So, I feel the need to explain where I am coming from.

          When I say “Black Lives Matter” it does NOT mean that I don’t believe all lives matter.  When I call for justice for a person of color who was murdered it does NOT mean that I don’t care or want justice for a white child who was murdered.  When I ask for justice for someone who died in police custody it does NOT mean that I am anti-police or that I don’t believe that Blue Lives Matter.

          What it means is that I am standing in solidarity with a brother or sister that is suffering.  In the biography of Mister Rogers that I have been reading (Exactly as You Are by Shea Tuttle) they talk about how his whole life, including being bullied helped make him the man that he was.  So, I want to share something from my past that will help you understand why standing with someone who is suffering is so important to me.

          In a couple of previous blogs I have talked about how I was bullied growing up.  There was an incident when I was a Freshman in High School that was very formative for me.  There was a senior who was a star football player who had decided that shy, quiet, self-conscious me was going to be the lunch time target of his bullying.  Every day he did his best to be mean, cruel, and often sexually inappropriate.  His goal seemed to be to make me cry.

          One day he played a particularly nasty joke on me and the whole cafeteria around be seemed to burst out laughing.  At my table, one friend turned away trying not to be associated with me.  But what really hurt, was that my best friend stood up beside my tormentor, slapped him on the arm and laughed with him.  I had never felt so betrayed in my life.  I didn’t speak to her for months because of that.  But having my friends abandon me to the bully wasn’t what was so formative.  A couple of seniors who were in choir with me came over and got me and took me back to their table. 

          From that day on Lynn and Steve met me as I got to the lunch room.  They walked with me through the line.  They welcomed me to their table full of seniors.  They stood by me in my misery, and the bully never bothered me again.  It was very powerful as a helpless freshman to have two seniors stand up for me.  I pledged that if I was ever in a similar situation I would stand up and not let someone suffer because of my silence.

          I believe that is what Jesus calls us to do.  Jesus didn’t come for the privileged or the religious leaders.  He came for the sick, the poor, the lonely, the outcast, and the sinner.  The religious leaders complained to Jesus, too.  They said it was inappropriate for him to side with sinners.  Mark 2:17 says, "¹⁷ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” (NRSV)

          When I stand up for “Black Lives Matter” or LGTBQ rights, or other causes it doesn’t mean that I love my white or straight friends and family less.  But at that moment you don’t need someone to stand up for you, they do.

          When Jesus stood up for the sick, the poor, and even the Samaritans it didn’t mean that God doesn’t love the religious leaders.  It was like in the parable of the lost sheep.  Just because the shepherd left the 99 sheep on the hillside it didn’t mean that he didn’t care about them.  It just meant that one lost sheep needed the attention right then.

          Jesus calls us to care for the least of these.  We are called to stand up for those who need justice.  We are to stand up for those who are being bullied.  We are to stand up for those who feel like no one hears them.

          So please don’t be offended when I stand up for those who need my voice.  It doesn’t mean that I love you any less.  It means that it is my turn to be Lynn or Steve for someone else.  It is my turn to be Jesus’ hands and feet.  I know the pain of having someone turn their back on me.  I never want to be the one to cause that pain for someone else.

The Spirituality of Gaming

          At my continuing education conference last week I took a class on using table top gaming in ministry.  As Geeks we already know the value of tabletop gaming.  When I was growing up often the church saw games like D&D as evil.  Now there is a Theology of Play movement that is using Gaming to enhance ministry and even grow disciples.

          They talked about the story of Mary and Martha.  Martha was all worried with all the work to be done.  She was wearing herself to a frazzle, while Mary just sat basking in Jesus’ presence.  There was no grand goal, just enjoying Jesus’ company and listening to him.  It is the same with playing table top games.  You are enjoying each other’s presence.  You are connecting with one another.  You are socializing.  You are learning fair play.  It is cognitively stimulating.  They have even found  that older adults who game have a smaller chance of dementia.  It creates community in ways that the church has forgotten.

          The biggest thing is that in our modern logical world many Christians don’t understand that we are called to live “as if” we live in God’s kingdom.  But gamers live “as if” all the time.  We play “as if” we were dwarven fighters, or “as if” we were building a railroad.  Gamer’s get it.  So, when we are challenged to live “as if” we are living in God’s kingdom we understand how to visualize it.  That doesn’t mean it will be easy, but we get it!

          God also wants us to have joy.  We were created to live in joy, but often our world of suffering sucks that away from us.  Play helps us reclaim that joy that we were meant to have.  Gaming is like the Sabbath.  God rested after creating for six days and calls us to rest, too.  We come back from gaming refreshed.  We come back with our humanity restored.

          When God created humanity in the beginning, God did not create us for stress or even religious practices.  We were created to dwell with God.  We were created to find joy in God’s presence.  We were created to find joy in one another.  It was human sin that pulled us from this fellowship with God and each other.  It is our sin that steals our joy.

          So when we play and game we find the joy that we were meant to have.  When we game with our gaming friends we actually see a glimpse of the paradise that God created and that Jesus promised to restore.  The hard part is getting our gaming friends who believe that the church hates gamers, or that the church is stuffy and judgmental that what God really desires for us is joy.  Scripture tells us that when two or three are gathered that Jesus is there.  So when we game, Jesus is there in the joy.  God desires to play with us.  The joy we find in fellowship with each other when we game is a reflection of the eternal joy that we will have sharing fellowship in God’s kingdom.  Let’s show the world how to live “as if” we live in God’s kingdom by helping others find this joy.