Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Games Churches Play

I was walking through Toys R Us with my boys today. They are 4 and 3 years old. Our trips there, until today, consisted of going to the Thomas the Tank Engine section and the Batman action figures. Today, however, the oldest wanted to go down a new aisle...the game aisle.

I was amazed to find games that I played over 20 years ago still taking center stage. Some of the packaging may have changed but there were plenty of familiar 'friends' there.

As I was looking over them and seeing names I had not thought of in years I began to think of one question:

If your church was a game, what would it be?

Don't Break the Ice - Could mean several things...(1) There is something going on that nobody wants to talk about or (2) It is not a friendly place. Cold.

Ants in the Pants - Worship gatherings with a groove.

Twister - How did you come to that conclusion from that scripture?

Monopoly - The church run by one or few and the rest are trying to get out of jail.

Hungry, Hungry Hippos - The first such church was the one in Corinth.


Perfection
- At least, the attempt to appear so.

Operation - Dissect everything, just like the game...no credentials needed, but one wrong move and...annnnnnnhhhh!

Mouse Trap - Remember this one? You go around the board, collecting cheese pieces and building mousetraps, while avoiding them yourself.

Battleship - Plot your strategies, send out your torpedoes and hide in a corner hoping to sink their battleships!


Candy Land
- Everyone likes candy but after a while you need some real food.

Chutes and Ladders - The whole power struggle thing.

Risk - The game was about world conquest. Church is nothing like that. Right? Right?


Sorry!
- This one sounds like it would be a good one, but if you remember the game, the goal was to send each other's pieces back to the starting line as you moved around the board. When you did that you would give an insincere, "Sorry!"

Help me out. What else did I miss?

Thursday, December 08, 2005

X-mas Plans

I'm sure everybody by now knows that Christmas is on Sunday this year. Not a problem if you are Jewish. Nor, you may be quick to say, if you are Christian...just go to church.

Some churches are not meeting on Christmas Sunday. Some are meeting for 'big church' but are not having their bible classes meet. I don't get that one.

I go back and forth on the matter. I'd rather spend the morning opening gifts and watching my kids do the same at home. Part of me doesn't want to go. Then there is a small part that wants to be with others praising God. I don't know.

What are you doing the Xmas?

Update:

Senior minister from Southland Christian Church explains why Kentucky church is canceling their gathering.