August 25, 2016–Devotions from Rio Olympics
Synchronized swimming

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be associated with them. For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.” Ephesians 5:1-2, 6-13

Synchronized Swimming is a hybrid – a mix of swimming, dance and gymnastics. Swimmers, swimming either alone or in duets, trios, combos, or teams, perform a synchronized routine of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music. I realize that many of the sports in the Olympics are based on activities that hearken back to a time when life was very different than life is today, but I am not so sure how this sport landed in the Olympic competition. But it did and it still is an Olympic competition. I am sure it demands a lot of training, stamina and coordination. I am sure the teams and individuals spend hours upon hours of time in the pool. But, I just can’t imagine myself participating in such a sport.

Now, many people might say the same thing about us Christians. They just cannot imagine doing what we do every Sunday, getting up early to trudge to a church and offer up prayer, praise and thanksgiving to G-d – let alone try to live our day to day lives following this idea of imitating Christ. But, truth be told, it takes as much training to live the Christ-like life as it does to be an Olympian. Does that sound like hyperbole? I do not think so. It takes years to learn to discipline yourself to live the Christ-like life. It takes years to realize we are better off being part of a Christian community, the gathering of the believers, than it is to try to live life alone. When we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, and the priesthood of all believers, that allows us to synchronize our lives of faith into beautiful acts of love, mercy and Grace.

Pastor Dave

August 24, 2016–Devotions from Rio Olympics
Water Polo

“Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.” Exodus 2:1-10

I personally love the Olympic sports that obviously require an extreme amount of stamina. So many of the sports in the Olympics require being born with certain kinds of muscles (like fast twitch muscles) or being the right height, or having the right kind of genetics. And other sports in the Olympics require spending hours upon hours of doing one thing over and over again. At the heart of playing a sport like Water Polo is the simple ability to tread water for a long, long time – often with someone hanging on you trying to pull you under the water. It is no wonder that when a participant in Water Polo gets out of the water, it looks as if they have leg muscles three or four times the size of any other muscles they have.

Water is one of the elements that, like fire, have almost contradictory properties – water is necessary for life; water can kill you in seconds. Water can deliver life through sea faring; water can destroy through floods and storms.

In the case of Moses, water was the deliverer of life as Moses was placed in a papyrus basket to float down the Nile river. Water has always been an element of life in the Christian faith. From the stories of Moses, Noah, the baptism of Jesus, we learn that water is not only necessary for life – it reminds us of its elemental role in our baptisms – and our chosen-ness as children of G-d, and inheritors of eternal life.
Pastor Dave