Thursday, October 14, 2004

Satanic XBox and Real Community

Oops, I did it again. I stayed up til 3AM in a pursuit to finish the assault on the control room in legendary fashion. Halo is new to me. I've had my Xbox since the 1st of August and I have wasted way too many hours glued to the tv screen. It's a release, a break from reality, a test of skills, a tracking of improvement so to speak. It was worth it. I have 4 more levels to finish on the hardest setting. Yeah, I've already seen the alternate ending. The Maw was the second level I finished on Legendary.For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, just wait for Halo 2 and catch the bug. SWEET!I started a 4 week series on relationships last night at church. We have been developing "community" in our student ministry over the last 2 years and I am amazed at what God is doing. I guess it really hit me last night. We still have a long way to go , but we're making progress. Have you ever had a party that your friends didn't show up to? Or better yet, have you taken a friend to a party to meet someone and that person wasn't there. God is showing me about community in a neat way (Brian McLaren calls the word "community" an over used word in recent Christian vocabulary) . Homework, sporting events and the stinking SC state fair took a number of my students away from last night's bible study. I was concerned because they missed a good start to a series with real life issues. But more than that, I saw where their input was missed. Their smiles and encouragement was missed. Their love and devotion was missed. Their corporate worship was missed. I missed them. It's not about what they get from me, but what I get from them. Before you think I'm just selfish and don't understand the intricacies of the teenage schedule, homework load, and the need for greasy fair food, see my point. We had a visitor and a 2nd time visitor last night. I couldn't help but feel bad for them that they missed out on the incredible presence of the ones who were gone.Bottom line, I see an aspect of community that I hate, but I love. I love that I'm learning it. When one in our group is not in our group, the whole group suffers. The whole dynamic changes. We are actually starting to become a real community where all contribute to the stability of the whole. If a soccer team goes into a tournament and the goalie has another engagement, who suffers? That's what I mean.

1 comment:

Blake said...

3am? 3AM? Dude, you're my hero!

As fun as Halo has been for you on single player, you know that hooking it up and letting rip with all you kids from the church is the funnest thing. I got my XBox last Christmas and bought Halo off eBay this summer. I introduced some kids to the crack that we call Halo. I've had kids buying XBoxes and even trading in PS2's for XBox/Halo. Now they beat me all the time!

I'm hoping the church I'm going to either has kids that play it or will be open to it.