I went to the Texas Baptist Annual meeting in Waco this last week. Baptists gather from all over Texas to vote on budgets and resolutions and hear reports from the different agencies attempting to reach Texas with the Gospel. I used to be one of the young ministers at the meeting. Now, I am one of the seasoned veterans. There was a time when ten thousand showed up for the meeting and there was lots of enthusiasm. Now, there is barley a thousand in attendance and the halls were filled with quiet conversations.
On Tuesday night, the intramural flag football finals were going to be played. They were going to be played on the field of Baylor’s stadium. One of my pastor friends had a son that was going to play in the game and invited us out for the fun. it was cold and we were unprepared, but we put on extra clothes and grab blankets from the house we were staying in and headed to the football field. We entered through a side door that took us down into the interior of the building and after snaking around eventually led us to the field. About 300 college student stood on the sidelines and cheered on the teams. The first game was between the last two girl’s teams. They had an exciting, high-scoring, enthusiastic game. When the final whistle sounded, girls rushed the field cheering and screaming. It was a party.
The boys final, the last game of the night, started about 9PM. It was a one score hard fought game. The huge stadium felt empty. Maybe it was the soccer like score or the draining of the cold weather, but the crowd was subdued. Occasionally someone would yell a word of encouragement, but mostly it was silent. When the game was over, the referee blew the whistle. The teams shook hands and circled for prayer. The crowd moved like penguins on the ice, like one big slow mass. Everyone shuffled off of the field and headed to their cars. There was no outburst and hardly any congratulations. There was almost no enthusiasm. I wondered about it. Why such different responses to the game?
I attended the preaching conference attached to the Baptist meeting. The preachers were fantastic. Beth Moore did an especially good job. Several of the preachers brought choirs. Some of the choirs sang in a beautiful, calm and dignified way. It was nice. One of the other choirs sang with reckless enthusiastic abandon. it was exhilarating.
As we walked off the Baylor football field, I dropped down on the turf for a photo. It has been 36b years since I have been on the Baylor football turf. I was remembering days gone by. My freshman year, I was the President of the Baylor Line, a spirit organization. Our goal was to inject enthusiasm into the stadium, to energize the crowd and support the team. I wore bright green pants and yelled and jumped and screamed. I was enthusiastic.
When I see the bear on the TV it looks much smaller, up close, it is overwhelming. I realized I would fit into mouth. I positioned myself between the teeth of the bear because that is the way life often feels. Pressure is bearing down-troubles are all around. What we need from each other so often is an infusion of energy to give us the boost of hope we need to survive. I think I’m in lots of places that need people to stop shuffling around looking at their feet and instead raise their faces and voices in enthusiastic joy.
When you come to church, be a person that builds others up. When we sing, sing loud. When it time to laugh, laugh out loud. Pat someone on the back. Smile a little bigger. Enjoy yourself a little more and bring someone along. Let’s turn up the energy a bit.