Monthly Archives: April 2008

All I Have Are Questions

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So tonight in our small group it was my turn to share some of my spiritual journey. As I’ve been doing my mental preparation for it over the last couple of weeks I’ve been looking at things from my past with my present-day glasses on.

The more I looked at a situation from 15+ years ago I recognized similarities in some present-day situations. Talk about an eye-opening realization. For someone who likes to know things, and have answers for even the most obscure questions, I have no answers, but I have a bunch of my own questions.

Disclaimer: These are honest questions. I do not intend to question anyone’s service to the church. These questions come from a desire to understand.

The biggest question in my mind right now is what does “worship” really mean? What does it look like? I know what Google says worship is, but those are just words. I know I experienced it this morning when Julie Anderson led us in song during Open Worship. The problem was that I was so excited to sense and recognize the worship happening that I almost missed participating in it. I’m silly.

The second big question, which is a follow-up to the first, is what is the point to church? Why is it that we get together for the “worship service” every week? Is it bad that I believe the purpose of the worship service is not to make me feel good, and get me energized to go out and face the “evils” that the week is going to throw at me? If it’s called a worship service, why is it used for teaching? I don’t know if I’ve ever felt worshipful listening to a sermon. Teaching and preaching is important, don’t get me wrong, but why do we treat the 30-45 minutes singing spent on Sunday morning as sufficient? Is singing the only “acceptable” way to worship?

I’m not trying to say that God does not respond during worship, and you should leave church feeling empty. What I’m saying is why do we expect the act of going to church to be for our benefit? Are we so consumeristic that we look for what we can take away from our time in the pews rather than focusing on being in the presence of the almighty God? On the flip-side, we can’t be so complacent that we don’t recognize when God responds to us. So where’s the point of balance?

See, I just have questions.

Twitter, the Torch, and NPR

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Today the spectacle known as the Olympic Torch Relay passed through San Francisco, but nobody who really wanted to see it — for or against — got to see it.  Not that people didn’t try to find the updated route.  Man Twitter is getting some interesting publicity out of this. “Twitterati,” I love it!

BTW, you can follow me on Twitter @jschwanz.

One of my favorite things about going into work on Wednesday mornings is I might be going in at the right time to hear my favorite segment on NPR‘s Morning Edition.  Frank Deford‘s segment this morning was about the torch, and the Olympics in general.  He’s got some interesting thoughts to go along with this already very interesting upcoming Olympic Games.

Politics and Sport

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There’s been a lot in the news lately about the growing tension surrounding China, Tibet, and the upcoming Olympic Games.  I find a lot of, I dunno, personal unrest, and lack of answers for “what’s right” in this situation.

First off, reference this article.

[Hein] Verbruggen [the IOC coordinator for the 2008 Olympics] reiterated the IOC’s position that athletes must respect the Olympic charter and that the games were “not a place for political gestures”.

That’s funny, you forgot to tell that to history.  Berlin in 1936 was all about promoting the Nazi view.  Moscow in 1980 was over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.  LA in 1984 was mostly seen as a retaliation for 1980.  And definitely not outdone by 1968 in Mexico City — while done by individuals and not nations, still a very politically powerful move.

Anything international is political, especially something as competitive and “friendly” as sport.  National pride is on the line; we’re better than you.  ”Right” and “wrong” is one the line; our politics/policies are the way things should be.  Good v. Evil at the water polo venue in 45 minutes; stupid Commies are going down!

That brings us to today, and my reason for posting this.  The Olympic torch is making it’s 85,000 mile trek, and today was in London, where it received a very “exciting” welcome.  Some protester tried to take it, and another tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher!

My tension comes where the politics meet the field/mat/pool/court.

On one hand, the struggle in Tibet is very, very real.  The oft-reported human rights abuses in China are very real.  China’s (thankfully currently restrained) military might is very real.

On the other, these are (mostly) amateur athletes, competing at the highest levels, for their respective countries.  Most of them make enough money to survive, but not enough to live comfortably.  Especially when it comes to basketball, professional teammates shift gears and compete against each other.

And there’s the rub.  Once you pull on that uniform, once you are wearing something that says USA, Canada, Jamaica, Venezuela, Australia, China, etc. you are not just an athlete competing for yourself.  You are an athlete with thousands and millions of people behind you, and you represent them.

I just don’t know how to react.  The IOC is in fact not a political organization.  The Olympic Games, however, have a history of being politicized in both healthy and unhealthy ways.  This upcoming Olympic Games is being politicized, for what I perceive as healthy reasons.  I just am struggling to find internal peace with a “just and reasonable” way to express the political views.  I guess I just have to wait until history happens to see how well international leadership handles this politically non-political situation.