Community

I heard it over and over again.  "Sports become gods in our lives." "You see these guys going to stadiums, yelling and screaming and paying lots of money; for what, so they can have some huge thrill of watching people demonstrate their strength over someone else?"  Perhaps sport can be gods.  Perhaps people do spend a great deal of time investing in a sport for some reason.  What if there was more to it than that?  What if it was because that is where they find community.  What if that is the only place they CAN find in within their lives?

As some of you may know, I recently started playing disc golf.  It always sounded fun, but I never invested the time to really learn much about it or even took the first steps to learn how to play.  A couple months ago I decided I would take the leap and learn how to play.  It only took once before I realize how enjoyable the game was and how I wanted to keep playing.

Shortly thereafter I was doing some reading about the sport online and came across a tournament that was designed to give beginners a chance to learn the sport.  It was relatively cheap and everyone got the discs they needed to play.  It's a win win situation for getting to know new people as well as finding other people that might want to try it out. I decided to take steps to host the tournament in our local town.  What I didn't realize is that there was a community of people out there just waiting to be brought together in new ways and waiting for an opportunity to play with others. 

The more I have spent talking to the other players the more I realize there is something more to this than what I realize.  There is a community here of people who enjoy the sport so much that they really care about the others they are playing with.  They try to help each other out.  They socialize and enjoy a game with people who they normally wouldn't spend any time with. 

It really got me thinking, what if we often get it wrong.  What if instead of trying to build our own community we invest our time in getting involved in communities that already exist or that are waiting to be brought together?

I have had the privilege of getting to know people and connecting people with others in ways that I never dreamed would be so easy. You get to really get to know people and get an opportunity to invest in people.  I know a lot of churches that don't even have a community like that and that is what so many strive for. What if instead of trying to get people to come to us, we begin going to them and just showing them Christ's love?  Perhaps the community would be stronger and we would be able to get a glimpse of what the world around us is really like.

Your thoughts...

 

Today is an opportunity for you to share your thoughts.  As I was thinking about the whole Hobby Lobby issue today and as people were bringing up other things in relation to Hobby Lobby I began to wonder how people choose which places to support and which places not to support.   Is it something you even consider when shopping?

I'm not really looking to find out what side of which issues you choose to stand on, but I wonder if for many people they just shop where they want to shop because of price, quality, service, etc.

I hear people all the time criticize big businesses for where they purchase their goods, the quality of service they have or the quality of the goods, but do we ever stop to consider our own purchasing habits.

We criticize companies for buying goods from China, yet we purchase from so many companies that purchase from China.  We criticize businesses for their  poor customer service, but we give them poor customers to begin with.  We criticize companies for the poor quality of their products, but we aren't willing to pay for what we get.

What if we examined where we purchased our products and how we interacted with those we purchase from?  Would we be able to find businesses that only aligned themselves with our values?  Where do you draw the line?  Are there any larger companies that check out all of their suppliers to ensure their vendors are operating the same way they would want them to.  Does it matter? 


We all have our own opinions of what is right and what is wrong.  Which businesses are good and which ones are bad.  Many of us want a free market and what the ability to choose where we buy our products.  Are companies allowed to be wrong?  Do we allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions?  Do we support them if they are right and so many are against them? 

When was the last time you paid extra for the higher quality and better service you get at a small mom and pop store?  Did you check out their business practices?  Why did you support them.

Perhaps we go looking for reasons not to support big business.  Perhaps we don't do enough to support small business.  Perhaps we forget to examine ourselves....