I’m sure you’ve read statistics, the overall population of churches is falling, and of all demographics, the least represented is mine. There are countless causes for this, but there is one I was particularly aware of as I left college: most churches don’t know what to do with single, young professionals.

In short, Churches have a place for married people (couples retreats), they have places for young people (children’s and youth ministries), but what they don’t have is a place for the people in between these two places. No… “in between” is the wrong phrase. They don’t have a place for those who fall into neither camp. I don’t like the “in between” concept. It implies that I as a single college graduate am simply in an ecclesiastical holding pattern until such time as I find a wife. At that time the church will signal me to go to a particular class where other young marrieds are. The underlying assumption is of course that you are not a whole person, until you are one flesh composed of two people. If you work the math backwards it makes sense. Two married people are one flesh, therefore one unmarried person is half of one flesh, ergo not a full person. But as such an individual… that hurts.

I appreciate the struggle, after all most of the college age people who were connected to your church were in the youth group and have likely gone too far away to moved (as they were from child to youth ministry) into another stage. The population is so small it’s hard to justify paying a full time minister to exclusively focus on this group. I’ve worked with churches, and I understand the logistical complexities of the issue. After all there are only so many rooms for classes and so many volunteers to teach them, it can be difficult to sponsor a class exclusively for a group that cuts to half or less of it’s size for all of the Sundays/Wednesdays when college is in session.

Coming from a school that ranked second in the nation in the number of men who married women from the same school, and having an overwhelming number of my friends be married at roughly the same age that I am, I was well aware that there was a cultural norm that I was differentiating from when I arrived in the entry way of South Side Church of Christ in Bentonville, Arkansas.

That first Sunday, I knew two people who weren’t about to head back to college. I’d spent years as a preacher at a small mostly elderly congregation. It had been a long time since I’d been a member of a church where the people my age weren’t brought to the church along with me. I came in self-conscious, and terrified that I wouldn’t be able to find a place. Boy was I wrong.

I volunteered to help with the youth group, whose youth minister was one of those two people I mentioned that I knew. Andy welcomed me to be part of that and I was also invited (by others who helped with the youth group) to join their life group. The life group is composed of (approximately) 10 married couples… and me. I was quite fearful the first few weeks. I was waiting for the inevitable chat about it. The one where somebody starts pushing the idea that I need to get married. I kept expecting to hear something about it, but the conversation never came.

I realized last week while talking to a friend from school that while, yes, I’m surrounded by married people at church, none of them treated me like I was less. They never viewed me as if I were lacking something necessary. Never once in their company has anyone seemed to view me as less than a whole person. when that realization hit me… I truly felt so thankful. It can’t be undervalued that the men and women alike have welcomed me. They’ve treated me with dignity and respect that was in no way contingent upon my relationship status.

To those in churches around this country who struggle with where to put a person like me, I recommend the following. Don’t worry about what class I should go to, don’t worry about making sure I’ve met the other ten single people my age… worry about me. Concern yourself with who I am right now. Not the married guy I may become, not the college kid that I was. The way to interact with me… is to love me. That’s what this life group and this church have done and it has made a huge difference in my life.

George Lucas: God of his Universe.

Disclaimer: this is not written to be an in depth discussion of Star Wars, Star Wars Fans, George Lucas or any debates or conflicts resulting therein. It is (more precisely) an observation of an interesting (though flawed) metaphor that results from those relationships. Understand that I am in no way claiming George Lucas is perfect or without some wrong doing. This post is more about fan reactions than George himself.

I recently watched a documentary, The People vs George Lucas. The film details the fan reactions to George Lucas’s work, both the good and the bad. They note the fan reactions to the original trilogy, who Lucas was during those times and (as you might expect) the the rather hateful reaction that came as a result of the lackluster prequel trilogy.

I entered the documentary with an obvious bias. I must say the film did a good job of presenting a relatively balanced collection of arguments. I’d love to go into more detail about that, but my purpose in this post is slightly different.

You see three of the many commentors in the documentary made statements that intrigued me.

The first was a rather animated gentleman behind a microphone at an open mike sort of event, who proclaimed loudly about how Lucas had given people a new religion that was preferred to that of their parents.

The second, a bespectacled fellow with scraggly hair and an ironic t-shirt of some kind, very plainly stated that at the end of the day, Star Wars is George Lucas’ creation, so he has final say in it.

The third, a balding man with a prominent mustache, stated that he had made (one of many) redone versions of Phantom Menace (called a “fanedit). He further noted that his motivation was premised on the fact that the prequel films and the alterations to the originals were “not part of my Star Wars.”

People vs George…

You see, essentially the argument is that the universe was created and is sustained by Lucas, but that the fans should have a say in what is and is not allowed. They bring up countless classic arguments (Han Shot FIrst, Adding Jaba in Episode IV, etc) and posed that at the least George should not force these on the fans (there is a plea to release the original trilogy in their unaltered state) and at the most he should forsake these things and respond as the fans would dictate.

SIDENOTE: WIthout going much further I’ll just point to the fact that in the case of the series Lost paying too much attention to the fans was part of the writers’ downfall.

Drawing a Parallel…

There seems to be merit to this argument, right? After all, the universe exists for the fans to enjoy. They put a lot (financially, emotionally and sometimes physically) into this universe. So, if the introductions of Lucas’s expanded rules (Mediclorians), or introduction of new things (Jar Jar) is hard for the fans to swallow or truly enjoy, then he should at the very least apologize and empower them to undo the damage he has done right?

Too often, I think this is what we see in the way people talk about religion or God. We see people (and ourselves) consistently calling for us to ignore the basic tenants of Christianity, because they are inconvenient or because we down right don’t like them, and much like the Star Wars fans we feel entitled to make such demands. But (to borrow from a commentor) the universe is God’s creation, so He has final say in it.

We often sound like our fan counter parts, proclaiming that a certain thing we read in the Bible doesn’t sound like “My God.” This stems from a self-centered idea of creation. Neither God, nor Lucas, made their creation first and foremost for the pleasure and enjoyment of anyone but themselves. Lucas had a story he wanted to tell; so did God. Both had in mind for others to enjoy it, but as they created they had a grander idea in mind than simply satisfying us.

When that self-first mindset takes hold and we find things that run contrary to how we with them to be, we develop this sort of love-hate relationship. It becomes a series of statements like “I love what you did here, but I would change some things over here… And that idea over there? Well that’s just a bad idea so let’s pretend it isn’t there… Oh and I have a great idea. I know it’s the opposite of what you said you wanted, but I really think if you just hear me out you’ll see that I’m smarter than you about how your creation should be.” 

Where the metaphor breaks down…

You may not like the parallel between fans of a movie franchise and followers of God, and I will admit it becomes a labored metaphor anytime a man is used in God’s place to make a metaphor, because that man is not perfect. Beyond that fans are not the creation of the filmmaker, but there is a principal that cannot be missed here. Both a fan and a follower have a purpose to enjoy the works of the creator, but they do not have a right to alter the creator’s work.

And even though Lucas actively enables much of the parody that is sent his way (creating contests, providing soundboards, etc) ultimately, he is interested in what he has created and not the reactions to it. God concerns Himself with both, but that does not mean He will make corrections based on your whims. God created a universe that praises Him without ceasing. He populated it with a variety of creatures, including us. Then, he began to introduce more to us. First the Law, and then the Cross. In doing this He does not poll humanity. In fact, one of the only true times God does as people would have Him do (giving Israel a king), is structured in such a way as to demonstrate why they should trust him. God acts on His will alone.

Conclusion…

Consistently in this life, we run up against aspects of how God intends our world to be that do not gel with our own self-focused desires. I wonder if when we do, we sound as petty to him as fans do to Lucas. I wonder if all of our complaining and rebelling is met with the same basic reaction, “This is my universe to do with as I please. I wish you would appreciate what I’m trying to show you and quit trying to alter it.” This world and the people in it were created to glorify God and no amount of raging against His desire for us to do so changes that.

I don’t know about how George feels about his fans, but I know how God feels. He would not want us to live in an existence aligned with His purposes in this universe if He cared nothing for us. There is a reason He perseveres with us through all of the ranting, raving, editing, revising, boycotting, petitioning and slandering that He sees us do against him. There is a reason He remains after we talk only about how He inconveniences us…

He loves us.

 

 

I hope you could take something from this. Again I don’t write this without knowing that it is an imperfect metaphor, but hopefully you can see that the real issue has little to do with Star Wars and much more to do with our reaction to God.

Why we’re so ready for college football

Everything comes in normal natural cycles. My favorite part of that cycle begins in a week. College football.

I’m an Auburn fan, and of course that means this year holds a lot of promise (not hard to have a better season than last year), but I’m not writing about them.

I’m writing about an interesting phenomena that I’ve been observing among many fans. Specifically, I care more about the college football season starting than I ever have. It’s the same among my old school friends and even my coworkers. No one can recall ever being this ready for the season to start. I think I know why.

Johnny Manziel. Now don’t get me wrong, I think the Heisman-winner is a complete doofus, but let me lay out the theory.

Normally, late July is the slowest month in terms of sports news. The NBA playoffs are long over, The MLB is in their dog days, when the fans dwindle because of the heat and no game feels like it matters all that much (a feeling which fades as we approach September). The All-Star break is a welcome diversion, but it is immediately followed by the day the sports worlds stands still (that is to say the day when no major American sports are being played). And in terms of Football, there is little to be said. Practices (both professional and collegiate) don’t begin for another few weeks and until then there is little to be said outside of headlines about players in scandal.

If you’re a sports fan you know what I mean. It’s the season when your ESPN phone alert goes off and you hardly care to look. Unless your favorite baseball team is putting on a show (Like the recent streaks of the Braves and Dodgers) there is hardly any reason to turn on a sports channel.

It is during this time that we, the college football fans, think longingly about what comes in a month. But in late July that promise of fandom fulfilled is still too far off to really hold on to. In fact it feels in many ways as if time stands still for college football during that period of time. Sure there are a few blips on the recruiting radar, and maybe a player has been dismissed for some offseason conduct, but none of it really pushes the sport to the front of your mind.

What I have just described is what I’ve experienced in late July and early August most of my sport-loving life. But this year was different, because of Johnny Manziel. Normally nothing is happening that has implications for the landscape of college football as a whole, but Johnny and his infamous friend Uncle Nate changed that.

July 13th, Johnny leaves the Manning Passing Academy amid facts that he missed practices and rumors that he was out late partying the night before. This event alone didn’t really push college football to the mind of anyone who wasn’t already thinking about it. By this point any dedicated fan of Texas A&M was aware of some of the shenanigans their beloved QB had been up to. Poorly thought out tweets and crazy parties among them.

For many of us college football fans this was irritating. Especially since the one brief taste of football was approaching for SEC fans: SEC media days. but all of the focus of the event was on Johnny Football. So though I walked away from the news I read coming out of the event glad to hear the first few snippets from my favorite teams caoch, I was also thinking about Manziel.

But it was still about a month from the start of real practices at this point, and though our ears were pricked about the world of college football. We all might have just laid back down and slept until our respective schools began to have real news come out.

But even as the media continued, day in and day out, to talk about Manziel, I don’t think it would have had the effect on our collective psyche that it did, if august 4th had been a quieter day. That was when the allegations first arouse that Manziel (with the help of his drinking buddy and handler, Uncle Nate) had been signing footballs and other gear in exchange for payment.

I don’t feel like getting into an argument over amateurism and pay-for-play schemes right now (I’ll leave that to the pundits), but this event is the smoking gun of our wild desire to watch ball be played. You see this investigation became a daily saga. All manner of news outlets and social media were pushing the storylines. and so what had been just a small spike in our awareness of the coming football season, instead became the start of our football focused minds.

I started this post by saying that things come in cycles. Normally we start to really consider the upcoming season, when notes start coming out of practice. But thanks to Mr. Johnny Hancock’s signatures on footballs, many of us (especially the fans of SEC football) have been talking about college football for a few extra weeks. Ultimately, talking about it has made us care a lot more than we usually do.

This isn’t to say that we care more about seeing our team play. Really that the anticipation is at an incredible high.