When the Cardinals won the world series on Friday night, I was so charged during Allen Craig’s game-winning catch that I leaped into the air with my hands outstretched and proceeded to cut my knuckles open on the popcorn ceiling above me. Today I was reflecting upon my wound, and I realized that there was a lesson to be learned from my own mistake.
Modern Christianity is often paralleled to a sporting event, but here it’s even easier to draw a conclusion from these events: Professional sports are groups of men performing to a specific rule set for the enjoyment of their spectators. How different is this from God? He’s performing every day to a specific rule set: His rule set that He outlines in his own rulebook, no less! The difference is the question of whether we are observing his performance.
I was a bit convicted this morning looking at my own hands and realizing that I’m guilty of having difficulty getting this excited about God. I asked myself: “What does it take for our collective Christianity to get so excited about God that we’re willing to ‘bloody our knuckles’ in celebration of our faith?” I don’t necessarily know the specific answer, but I believe that regardless we need to get back to a state of bloody-knuckle Christianity. If we can cheer so excitedly for professional sports teams and musicians, why not God?
In the past, and even in the present, men bloodied their knuckles on the field of battle to protect their, and our, faiths. Why are we, as spectators, so hesitant to get our own hands dirty? Wounds are a history and carry stories with them, but how many Christians have bothered to sit back and not scratch their pristine finish? Isn’t it more interesting for those who are observing YOU to hear about what caused your bloody knuckles?
However, in this reflection I believe that as modern Christians we all can do a better job. We need to turn down the outside distractions and watch the one true actor and performer in our lives, and become excited enough that we create a visible record of our excitement to tell to others. Anecdotes are one of the most powerful ways of communicating with others, so why do we sit back and prevent being a part of more interesting anecdotes?
CONTRIBUTED BY JONATHAN BARRETT
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