Some Quick Thoughts on a Few Sports Stories

Not that I'm normally a consistent blogger, but for the past couple months, most of my blogging has taken place on the Lenten Blog I'm keeping up with my boss. But in addition to a time of spiritual discipline and formation, this season of the year is also a really fun time in the world of sports. I'm a huge sports fan and have noticed lately that there are a lot of fun things happening in sports that are worthy of a few of my thoughts. So here goes...

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March Madness
As a college basketball fan in general, and a Duke fan in particular, this is a really fun time of the year for me. March Madness is always exciting to watch and this year is not proving any different. Duke has looked pretty good in the tournament so far, but there are plenty of great teams still alive, so who knows what will happen. At least they have made it to the Sweet 16 and didn't get beat in the first round by a much lesser opponent like last year.

Miami Heat
I'm not much of an NBA basketball fan, but how can you not be intrigued by what Lebron James and the Miami Heat are doing right now? Lebron is playing as well as he ever has and his team, as of the writing of this post, have now won 27 straight games. The NBA record is 33 straight, so it is beginning to look like this record could fall (which no one ever thought would). Crazy!

Seattle Mariners
Those of you who know me personally know that I am a HUGE Seattle Mariners fan. I love baseball in general, so I'm really excited for Spring Training to end and the regular season to begin. But the Mariners really have my hopes up for this season. They have been much-improved throughout Spring Training and seem poised for a great year. Of course, Spring Training doesn't really mean a whole lot, so they could totally suck and break my heart. But I'm optomistic!

Denver Broncos
My NFL team has made headlines this offseason for both good reasons and bad. They started the offseason on a tear, having made some pick free-agent signings in Wes Welker and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (among others), but the recent news has been strange and disappointing as they were forced to cut Elvis Dumervil due to a mistake by his agent. He has now signed with the Baltimore Ravens, so the Broncos will need to find a replacement for their Pro-Bowl defensive end. So frustrating!

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I know you probably don't care about any of this, but thanks for humoring me. This is a really fun time of the sports year and I wanted to share my enthusiasm.

The Kingdom of God is Like...

In Mark 4, Jesus tells parable after parable about the nature of the Kingdom of God. Most of his parables in this section are about agriculture and seeds, which is not an area in which I have much experience or expertise. To some degree I can relate to and understand each parable, but there is also a cultural barrier that is difficult to move beyond. As I read, I found myself wondering what kind of parable Jesus might have told for our contemporary generation. Here is a crack at a modern parable about the Kingdom of God:

This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A woman created a personal video that spoke from her passion, interests, and context and uploaded it to YouTube. She had no visions of grandeur about the video's popularity or reach, but simply desired to share her thoughts and dreams with her family and friends. But as the video was increasingly viewed and its network was rapidly enlarged, the video had suddenly gone viral and her thoughts were recognized, honored, and appreciated by millions.

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The following was my first draft of this parable. It did not end up as a parable, but more of a metaphor. I thought about just deleting it and never showing anyone, but maybe someone might be interested. It at least serves as a rather obvious and overt explanation of the parable.

The Kingdom of God is like a YouTube video. It starts small - as a personal video that is only viewed by family and friends. Some end their life at this stage, while others enjoy a moderate existence, bearing an average amount of entertainment or illustrative value. But from time to time, as a video is gradually viewed by an increasing amount of people and its network reach is exponentially enlarged, it slowly but surely spirals out of control. The video has gone viral.

New Thoughts on an Old Practice

During this season of Lent, my boss Gary and I have taken it upon ourselves to read all four gospels during the 40 days and blog about what we are learning. We have invited our faith community and the students at the youth center where I work to join us on the journey. One section from our readings a few days ago is one of the more popular passages in all of the gospels. Matthew 18:15-20 has long been used by the church as a model for church discipline. The way the passage is typically read, understood, and practiced is that if someone is in sin, you go to them individually to try to correct their behavior. If they do not listen, you then go to them with two or three people. If they still will not listen to your advice and correction, you take their story before the whole church. And finally, if they still will not modify their sinful ways, they are to be expelled from your community, a practice traditionally known as excommunication.

But this is not how the actual biblical passage reads and is a grave misunderstanding of Jesus' words. Jesus says, "...if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector." While the church has often interpreted this passage as the license and liberty to excommunicate the unrepentant sinner, this is actually the EXACT OPPOSITE of Jesus' words. Jesus is not asking us to break communion with pagans and tax collectors, because these are the very people with whom Jesus frequently communed. He constantly befriended and loved those who the world loved to hate. He constantly communed with all the 'wrong' people. He constantly loved the unlovable.

"Treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector"

With these challenging and engaging words, Jesus is inviting his followers to actively engage and commune with people who are resisting the way of Jesus. He's not asking us to break these relationships and solely commune with those that are like us. He is inviting us to push further into community and fellowship with those who badly need the good news of Jesus. May we have the courage to not resist and avoid relationships with the other, those different than us, and our enemies.

P.S.  To add one more thought - I don't think it is just random coincidence that the section of text following this passage on church discipline is the story of Jesus telling Peter he must forgive others 70 x 7 times. What do you do when someone has wronged you? Sure doesn't look like Jesus wants you to kick them out of church.

Awaiting the Weekend

It seems like most people live for the weekend, and I can't really blame them. I do too. The week of work can become a monotonous grind and the weekends become a chance for refreshment of soul. But I wouldn't say that I'm usually just DYING to get to the weekend...

...except this week!

When Mandy, Zoe, and I moved to Montana a few months ago, one of the perks we were anticipating was the chance to see our families more often. So far, however, we haven't had much opportunity to take advantage of our new-found proximity. But that is changing. We are spending the weekend in Billings with my family so that we can celebrate my niece's 5th birthday. We are really excited!

This is the sort of event that we always missed when we lived so far away in Seattle. Moving to Montana has meant leaving a lot of incredible friends behind and moving to a place where we knew no one, so friendships are pretty rare at this point. But at least we are finally starting to reap the benefits of living near family.

Embracing Failure

After a long hiatus from crafting cartoons, The Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus is back to its prophetic and thought-provoking ways. The newest cartoon is really good:

Not that I hope to fail at everything I do, but I at least want to be someone who is okay with failure. Too often people in ministry and life, myself included, choose to not dream and try new things because they are afraid of failure. I am on an active quest to not be this way. I want to take risks. I want to be daring. And if the project or experiment totally flops, I want to have the courage to try again.

HT: ASBO Jesus

A New Online Address

While this blog has never been popular or achieved an avid readership (and probably never will), it is still really important to me. I've been blogging here since 2006 and, as of today, I have written 457 posts. As I say on the sidebar of my the site, I'm trying to figure out how to love God and neighbor well, and the process of blogging has been helpful along the journey. At times I have blogged almost daily, while in other seasons I have been more of a weekly writer.

For quite some time I have thought about acquiring a new domain name for my site. There is just something a little tacky about having to say and type the .blogspot.com name. So today I finally pulled the trigger and bought the domain name jasonbowker.com. It will be better and more succinct to be able to tell people about my website with this new name. I realize this changes nothing for you, and really is probably not interesting to you, but I was excited to finally make this change so I thought I would share the news with you.

A Needed Change of Pace

I've now been back in Montana for about 2 months and my life is really different. I've gone from being a stay-at-home dad to a full-time, working parent overnight. I've gone from volunteer ministry to full-time ministry. And I've gone from having lots of great friends to basically having none.

But one of the greatest changes I am experiencing is a dramatic change in my pace of life. Over the past few months I have been rudely reminded of two truths: 1) people in Montana move at a slower pace than other places in the country and 2) I've developed a rather hurried, rude, and impatient posture toward life.

In regard to the first, we Montanans just seem to move and act at a slightly slower pace than other places (especially big cities like Seattle). This is a not negative thing and I actually really appreciate the slower and more thoughtful rhythm of life that I am once again experiencing. But I'm just having to adjust to this slower pace.

I've become rushed. I'm impatient with other drivers. My fast food just doesn't come fast enough. That slow person in front of me in line at the grocery store just needs to hurry up. It's sick! I need to make an adjustment and learn to slow down, enjoy life, and avoid getting frustrated with others. As it is with the 12-step programs, I'm hopeful that admitting I have a problem is the first step toward recovery.

Hello. My name is Jason and I'm an impatient jerk!

A Different Blog for Lent

Of late I have not exactly been a consistent blogger here on this site, but I will most likely be especially absent from here over the next 40 days. I have started a new blog, with my friend and co-worker Gary, to document our journey through Lent. Gary and I will be reading through all four gospels throughout the 40 days of Lent and will be journaling about our thoughts and questions. Here is the blog:

Our Journey Through Lent

I invite you to frequently visit that site during the next few months as we journey through Lent and await the death and resurrection of Jesus. You can also find a reading guide on that site so that you can join is in this adventure.