A New Adventure, Part Two

So, did you watch the Super Bowl this weekend? The whole thing worked out well in our home. Ten years of ministry in Kempton, Indiana have solidified my wife's parents as Colts fans. I grew up in St. Louis, so I was happy to root for anybody who was playing the Bears.

Regardless of my... well... less-than-fan status for Chicago as a team however, I've got to say that watching Lovie Smith sincerely congratulate Tony Dungy after the game was an awesome thing to see.

Without a doubt these men will be remembered as the first two African-American coaches to lead their teams to a Super Bowl. But I think their faith is far more memorable. They set a great example of camaraderie among believers and each modeled what a life yielded to Christ can look like. Both Smith and Dungy allowed others to see the influence of Christ in their leadership styles, while demonstrating that this influence isn't a hindrance to building a strong team. Through it all they showed a genuine appreciation for each other that never seemed at all forced. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that much of this happened on live television in a situation that would make it tough for anyone to hide their true nature. As C.S. Lewis points out in Mere Christianity, "Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is..."

If you read my first entry, you might be wondering at this point if I've forgotten my promise to share my second reason for choosing to call this blog "Convergence." Believe it or not, it's all connected- at least it is in my head.

The second definition listed above for the word simply says, "a meeting place." You may have noticed that the link to this site is "convergence244." Numbers are often included in links like this one simply because the word has already been used by someone, and the numbers allow an original address. I imagine "convergence" is probably being used somewhere else, but I actually included the numbers to remind myself (and whoever else might be interested) of a characteristic of the early church that is described in Acts 2:44. This is what it says: "All the believers were together and had everything in common."

Take a moment and picture that. This was the beginning of the Church, and one of their main focuses was true community. Just two verses later, in Acts 2:46-47 Luke writes, "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." The Greek word for "church" is ecclesia, or "assembly". It is the very nature of the Church to be a community; a gathering.

The early Church met in a variety of places, from the temple courts to each other's homes. The place was not important in itself; it only provided the people with a common destination and an opportunity to gather as they lived out the characteristics that defined them as Jesus' disciples and as a community. Today just as it was then, the locations where the Church meets are nothing more than points of convergence, or meeting places.

Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith did a great job of demonstrating this idea. They faced each other in an intense competition and were able to use that unlikely meeting place as an opportunity to be the Church. As they met at the games end, their embrace showed respect, admiration, and a true sense of community.

This blog is just an opportunity; a meeting place. It is incidental. But perhaps, what happens here will be a tool for encouragement, or challenge, or conviction. And if you choose to join me on this adventure, perhaps together we will find a true sense of community here, as a part of Christ's Church.

In Him We Live,

Jeff