Colossians Chapter 4
By Pastor Chris
Finding Hoosiers In Utah
It is March 2005, and I am in Salt Lake City dropping Megan and kids off at the airport. It just so happens that March Madness (you know…the college basketball tournament) is going on in SLC. It is the site of the western bracket and Indiana just happens to be in that bracket. I decide that since I have some time to kill I am going to attempt to find some tickets to this game and check out my home state Hoosiers! I head over to the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz, to see if there are any tickets available. As I walk up to the stadium, it seems strangely quiet. There are no scalpers trying to sell over priced tickets and no one selling sports junk outside the stadium. I chalked the lack of activity up to being a little early and walked into the ticketing area right up to the counter with no wait. I look around and finally ask if there are still tickets available for tonight (those are exactly the words I used.) To which the helpful ticket attendant replied “Yes, a ton.” She asked how many I would need and I replied, “Only one … it’s just me.” “Just one,” she questioned with a confused look on her face. “Yes, just one” I replied, grinning from ear to ear, I am clearly excited to be here. We look through all the available seating where I could purchase a ticket…there were even seats down front! She pointed out that the seats down front were obstructed. Apparently I wouldn’t be able to see “the screen.” My thoughts were, “I don’t need to see the screen; all I need to see is the floor.” So, I confirmed that I would still be able to see the floor (my exact words). Something about the obstructed view bothers me, as well as the forty bucks more for the ticket so I settle on a more modestly priced ticket in the center of the floor where I could see all the action. I buy the ticket, giddy with excitement. I am going to see my Hoosiers play Gonzaga tonight. As I walk out of the ticketing area and look at my ticket unable to believe my good luck, I slowly read the words “Disney’s Finding Nemo on Ice.” Pause. The entire interaction with the ticket lady rewinds through my head like the scene in a mystery movie where the lead actor replays all the clues throughout the movie that leads them to solve the mystery. OH NO, I just bought a ticket to a Disney on Ice show, alone, and was thrilled to be there. OH NOO, “The Screen” was the part of the show where “Nemo and friends” would be projected on. OH NOOO, it’s a college basketball tournament, they would be playing at the University of Utah, not at the Delta Center! OH NOOOO, I’m sure security had been alerted, I’d better get out of here!
I cannot imagine what that woman thought of me. For our entire conversation we were communicating, sort of, but about completely different things. She is talking about Ice Dancing and I was talking about basketball.
Sometimes our faith gets lived out in a similar way. We can be vague enough in our faith that someone might never know that we are a follower of Christ. We are different, but if un-clarified we might just be moral, a member of any of the hundreds of religions, hiding something, or just one of those people who is always in a good mood. This mindset never lets Christ take too central of a role, so people will never mark us as “one of them.” I’m not advocating buying up every Christian T-shirt and standing on the street corner with a bullhorn singing Jesus Loves Me. However, I am saying that we need to be less vague with our faith.
In Colossians Paul asks his friends to pray that he would be incredibly clear in his message,
… pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. (Colossians 4:3-5)
We should not be afraid of claiming Christ because He is the difference in our lives. It is through Him that we have found peace, hope, love, and unimaginable joy. That needs to be clear to the world around us, otherwise they might just assume we are really big fans of Disney-on-Ice shows.
