Extra Points and the Only Score that Matters

The Falcons' Matt Bryant was 39 for 39
this year in kicking Extra Points

   Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the National Football League, revealed Monday that he is considering changing the rules of football to eliminate the kick attempt after a touchdown. For as long as the sport has been played, touchdowns earn a team 6 points before the chance to kick the ball through the goalposts for an extra point. It is sometimes called the Point After Touchdown or PAT, for short. He explained, “The extra point is almost automatic. I believe we had five missed extra points this year out of 1,200 some odd. So it’s a very small fraction of the play..." The plan would be to make touchdowns worth seven points, not six. Rather than sending the kicking team on after a touchdown, teams would have a choice whether to attempt to get in the end zone for a conversion and a total of eight points. A failed conversion, however, would drop the damage down to six points, so as involve a little risk in exchange for the higher return.

   I don't like the idea. I really don't. Here is why.

   I like getting extra stuff. We all do. I like paying one amount and getting more for it. I like upgrades and discounts and two-for-one deals, but I don't see these as being comparable to what is happening on the football field. In football, the point after the touchdown is something you earn. Who cares if teams have become so consistent with it that kickers make it 99.9% of the time? Some games have been won because these kicks are not automatic - just ask the Jaguars who won 20-19 when the Saints' kicker missed the PAT with .00 on the clock. Make the teams play. Make them execute. Excellence is found within the details and the small stuff. Extra points might seem like small stuff...until you miss one to lose the game.

   What does this have to do with God, Jesus, the Bible, and the rest of the world apart from sports? Nothing. Unless in this conversation we are reminded that life is really about the small stuff. Executing the details is where days are won or lost for the good. We are remembered by most people not for the dramatic, suspenseful, daring acts that come around so rarely. Most of our actions are of the PAT variety:  

When you forgave your sister. 

When you offered grace before the meal in front of your kids. 

When you spent your afternoon in a church kitchen preparing a hot meal for hungry people.

When you wrote that check that helped a teenager to go serve in missions.

When you read with your grandchild.

   What does the bible say about extra points: not one thing. But, Jesus did surprise a bunch of people when he said heaven is open to those who do the little things like visit the sick, feed the hungry, clothe and care for those who are without. He said we do those things for Him in Matthew 25. 

   The NFL can do what it wants. I would hope we would see how important the little acts we execute every day add up to something much larger than any game played in a stadium.
   Grace and Peace to you, Scott

Preparing for Something Different

   We live in routines. We thrive in them. There are occasions  however, that our routines are altered or put aside. In those moments or seasons, we know that there will be some preparation that is needed. We prepare for guests. We prepare for events. We prepare for tests or examinations. Preparation is the precursor to important or special diversions away from our routine.

   We don't know the routine that Jesus had in the years before he answered the call to ministry. We do know, though, that he spent time preparing for the changes that were ahead. This is best captured in the story of the forty Days Jesus spent in the wilderness. Mark's Gospel, known for its economy of words, describes it like this:

"And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts;
and the angels waited on him." Mark 1:12-13

When the church chose forty days to be the length of the Season of Lent, this was one of the places it looked for support. Like those forty days Jesus spent preparing, the church intends that Season of Lent help prepare us for what is to come.

   The prominent place given to the ministry of preparation is not limited to stories about what Jesus did, though. Jesus is often instructed his followers to also be those who prepare. In Matthew 25 he tells a story about 10 bridesmaids who are expecting, at any moment, the bridegroom to arrive. The wedding, literally a party, would begin in that moment. They needed to be ready. But five of them were not. He ends with the admonition, "Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." Jesus, in other stories like the one in Luke 12, suggests that God comes like one who arrives and knocks in search of those who are prepared. He says, "be like those who are waiting for their master to return...so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks."

   That first Easter was the most significant moment in history. We celebrate it each year and anticipate new blessings and new insights from its return. I, personally, cling to the promise of hope that Easter offers. I need to know that Jesus conquered death. I need to hear a good word that these mortal bodies are not all we have. Such a moment of celebration is indeed a change of routine. It is something for which I must prepare.

   I pray you will join me in preparing. Whether it be through the imposition of ashes this week, worship each Sunday, studying the scriptures, or fasting and denying yourself something during Lent - start preparing for Easter. 

   Grace and Peace, Scott

Jesus said, "Don't Bury It."

"For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money." 

Matthew 25:14-18

   These are the opening few verses of the Parable of the Talents.  They end with the master returning to find that some took and invested his money in order to get more, while others buried it or sat on it out of fear that they would lose it. This is a complex, and frankly troubling parable to read before modern ears, but it offers a core truth; disciples are commanded to invest and use the resources given to us, regardless of fears or worries about the future.   I believe this is relevant to the proposal before Epworth this weekend at the Church Conference on Sunday, February 26. Here are the questions I have already asked myself as the dreams of such a proposal have slowly become a reality; 

• Isn't it a lot to spend on a driveway, a place to erect a church sign, and 60 new parking spaces? 
• Should we wait for some better alternative proposal? 
• What happens if we don't spend the money we already have on hand for this project, particularly the funds from the Hamp Stevens merger?

   The answers that keep returning to my questions are leading me to vote Yes on Sunday. While no one would spend this kind of money on a driveway, this proposal is about so much more than that. This project would gain us visibility on the second-busiest road traveled by our neighbors and community. We'd have a chance everyday to connect their spiritual needs with the great offerings of God through this church. The chance to double our parking capacity, which so already desperately need, would only be icing on the cake. I also believe there is not a better capital project that better positions this church to grow its own members and reach new people with the Gospel. Finally, while the promise to hold the Hamp Stevens funds was extended in 2010 beyond the original agreement, at some point in the near future we are going to have to spend those funds or else risk having them spent by someone else on something else.    At the height of the parable Jesus is telling we hear, "For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." Can we believe that we will receive, in the future, what we need? Can we believe that the same God who has provided, will continue to provide if we invest and spend what we have right now? I believe, Yes.

50 is a Good Number

   Vacation Bible School is bigger. Vacation Bible School is about singing, dancing, running, jumping, praying, learning, doing, undoing, making, talking, learning, listening, and lots of fun. 

   It is noteworthy, living in a world stricken with financial fears and concerns, that nary a nickel will come into the church coffers in the next decade from any of the children who attended this week's Vacation Bible School. Jesus speaks in Matthew 25 about the 'least of these' around us: those whose outward appearance regularly causes us to look past them or ignore them altogether. In many ways, children most perfectly describe the concept of the least of these. They take up more time, money, and energy than they give back in the short-run.  So, why would the 50 folks listed below give up the better part of a week to be present and active at VBS? 

   Vacation Bible School is bigger than any short-term payoff. VBS is about winning in our long-term mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ of all ages to help transform the world for God's Kingdom. Help me this coming week by saying a word of thanks to these volunteers who helped accomplish our mission in a big way at VBS.

Alyssa Morris
Amanda Morris
Andrea Carbaugh
Barbie Morris
Ben Hale
Blake Waters
Brittany Farmer
Buddy Dunn
Carolyn Gambill
Cheryl Jandreau
Debra Ledbetter
Diane Champagne
Diane Morris
Dot Merritt
Elizabeth Ledbetter
Frances Phillips
Fraser Woolridge
Gary Ledbetter
Harold Morris
Hayden Minix
Hayden Newman
Helen Howard
Helen Pharris
Jackie Jenrette
Janie Nellums
Jean Morris
Jeanne Guilbeault
Josh Simmons
Julie Hagan
Kyle Jackson
Leslie Morris
Lyn Pharris
Margaret Gosden
Maria Hale
Martha Conklin
Matthew Ledbetter
Melonie Phillips
Natalie Morris
Nicole Farrar
Payton Mobayyeni
Reese Phillips
Regina Bridges
Robert Conner
Sara Renner
Scott Hagan
Skylar Smith
Susan Dunn
Suzy Revell
Vicky Griffin
Walter Champagne