Common Ground

Spiritual Training Cycle: Connection (wk. 10/13)

Reading: Acts 2:22-41

Sports teams and their fans are the most celebrated and popularized communities in the world. The best professional organizations in the world have traditions of success, creating common ground between players and fans, past and present. Fans start to watch their favorite teams as children and pass on the history of their favorite players, championships, and highlight reels to the next generation. Fans get together and celebrate both their wins and painful losses. Communities like this are built on common ground.

Common ground can be created from a shared goal; a belief you can win. In sports, one of the most popular ways to get a team to rally together is through chants. In my experience, the most fun sports chants in the world come from women’s softball teams. Women’s softball is giving cheerleaders a bat, glove, and a willful disregard for losing skin sliding down in the dirt. I grew up with one of these feisty softball ladies and to this day I can still hear her chants from the dugout; getting her team behind her to rally and win multiple tournament championships. My sister could be heard anywhere in the sports complex with her call and answer chants:

“Let’s get fired up!” “We are fired up!”

“Fired up and ready?!”

“Fired up and ready!”

“Our team is alive!!”

“Our team is alive!!”

It still gets me amped up today! We can create common ground through a shared truth, believed by all, and chanted together.

In our spiritual communities today, we are building and maintaining common ground. Commonalities that come from centuries of tradition in the two thousand years since Christ’s death and resurrection. We have a shared goal; a belief that God has won the spiritual battle. We celebrate this victory through songs of praise and worship, acts of service, and prayer. These are all ways we support each other in the faith journey and maintain common ground rooted in Christ.

Prior to the formation of the early church, there wasn’t much common ground across communities. There were plenty of warring tribes, wealth disparity, religious dispute, and any number of other reasons for groups to be separated. There wasn’t a common goal, tradition, or rallying cry. But God had a plan to bring both Jewish and non-Jewish people together by sending Jesus. In John 17:20-22, we see Jesus shedding light on how to build “oneness” with both God the Father and our larger community of believers:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Jesus said this prayer over His disciples to encourage them to share an account of His coming death and resurrection. Their testimony would lead the way to build common ground among future believers and invite them to deeper connection with God.

Peter’s first opportunity to share his testimony of Christ’s death, resurrection, and forgiveness of our sins through His sacrifice can be found in Acts 2:38-39:

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

His testament would lead to a crowd of three thousand people accepting Jesus as their Savior, creating the early church and common ground found in believing in Him!

We find common ground through our sports communities, through watching our favorite teams and athletes, through our cheers and celebrations of thrilling wins. Jesus created common ground through witnessing His sacrifice for us, and our celebration of what He has done for us in forgiving our sins. Are we fired up? Let’s get fired up. Our King is alive.

Questions for Reflection:

What were the ways you connected with people as a kid that look different now as an adult and stronger believer in Christ?

What are some communities where you feel called to share more of Christ’s love?

Living Intentionally

Spiritual Training Cycle: Connection (wk. 9/13)

Reading: Mark 14:12-26

In high school, we had weight training as a class. In this particular class, we had our fair share of ego lifters. Ego lifting is the subtle art of picking a weight that is much heavier than anyone has the business of lifting and using every muscle in the body to get the weight up and down. If you’ve seen this spectacle before, you know how it starts, and you have likely seen how it ends. Young gentlemen tested themselves in the most important contest of fitness and male dominance, the bicep curl. Plenty of weight is moved with zero “gains” to be found. This act of ego lifting is going through the motion of the exercise, but failing to perform the pattern of movement in the way it was intended to experience real growth. We fail to grow when we perform the movement but don’t understand the intention of the pattern.

In our physical fitness, there is a significant transition that happens when we understand how to perform an exercise with intention. We set down the heavy dumbbell to perform a bicep curl and instead grab the lighter dumbbell. We don’t swing the weight up and down. We slowly control the weight throughout the whole range of motion while focusing on squeezing and contracting the muscle. This is the way to build muscle and grow. Two people can perform the same pattern but the one who recognizes the intention that goes with it will grow more muscle. We grow when we understand the intention behind the pattern.

We see similar things happen in some church goers. We witness people showing up on Sundays, singing the songs and listening to the sermons but they don’t see much change in their life. They go through the motions, but spiritual growth isn’t happening. Where significant growth happens is when they understand the intentions behind the patterns. ‘Spiritually fit’ people know how to apply proper intention to see more growth and experience deep connection with God.

Communion is an example of a spiritual pattern. Communion is a celebration of the new life found in Jesus. Unfortunately, many Christians miss the intention behind the pattern. In Mark 14, 22-25:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Judas was seated at the table with Jesus. Judas witnessed the pattern and even took part in it. He saw the same bread and wine, saw the same blessing, and saw the same example for what Jesus did with it. Judas received it and ate it. Judas went through the motion but failed to see the intention. The true intention is this; we bring our brokenness to Jesus; He speaks blessing into our life and He redeems us. He gives us a new life! Bring, bless, and redeem. This is the intention behind the pattern of communion.

When we perform a bicep curl, are we doing it for the vain ego, or do we wish to see the actual physical growth? When we participate in communion, are we just going through the motions, or do we desire to see real spiritual growth? I believe we can all experience genuine spiritual change when we treat Jesus’ pattern for our lives with intentionality.

Questions for Reflection:

What pattern in your spiritual life could you make more intentional? How?

In what ways is being intentional challenging?

United In One

Spiritual Training Cycle: Connection (wk. 8/13)

Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Jesus once said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” There is no denying that true sacrifice serves as the most powerful reminder of our shared humanity. When someone makes a significant sacrifice, it leaves an impression, like a mark in history, showing us the incredible strength and capacity we have to love.

We are so drawn to sacrifice that it’s written in all the greatest stories across time. All the most compelling novels, films, and artistry capture sacrifice. The film ‘Braveheart’ portrays the sacrifice of William Wallace leading the rebellion against the English during the First War of Scottish Independence. The novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ follows the acts of Atticus Finch who sacrifices his social standing and safety to defend an accused black man in a deeply racist southern town. There are so many stories, even in our personal lives, that reflect such sacrifices.

A key example is during one of the darkest events in recent history, the 9/11 attacks. Countless firefighters, police officers, and ordinary citizens made immense sacrifices to rescue and aid others in the face of grave danger. If you were around during that time, you still remember the details of that day. Sacrifice creates a sense of unity and connection among us all because deep down we can all relate and appreciate the sacrifices others have made for us. To create a more harmonious and compassionate world, we must remember these sacrifices by recording them as an example of how we must treat one another.

In CrossFit, we remember the sacrifice made by our brothers and sisters who have served our country and have gone beyond the call of duty to defend and protect it by writing their names into Hero workouts. These workouts take us out of the mindset of what we had originally come to the gym for that day. We might have had in mind we would set a personal record, out match a friend that we compete with daily, or just burn some calories. However, when you come to the gym and it’s a Hero workout, you understand this workout is about more than just yourself. It’s a workout that calls us to reflection and remembrance. There is a certain reverence we have when we do these workouts that stops all egos at the door.

The sacrament of communion is similar in this way. It points to something bigger than ourselves in which Jesus sacrificed for us. In a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he rebukes the church for their lack of reverence when participating in communion. They treated it as though it was a “normal day at the gym,” when it is so much more.

Communion is a reminder of Jesus’ last Passover meal with His disciples when He shared bread and wine with them. This was a significant moment because after this meal, Jesus would be sentenced to death. Jesus established communion as a symbol of His literal body broken, which is the bread, and His literal blood spilled on the cross, which is the wine.

Jesus’ sacrifice was set apart in history. Not only was His body a living sacrifice, but His blood became our eternal salvation. While sorrowfully many others have died for their sacrifice, Jesus also lost His life but raised it up again, defeating death. Communion is a celebration of the new life found in Jesus. Jesus proclaims that if we believe in His sacrifice made for our sins, we are set free from death as well, becoming eternally joined with God. As Jesus lives, we too can live. Because we have all sinned, His sacrifice provides the rescue for all humanity.

Communion is meant to unite us all to Jesus because we can all share in the sacrifice He made for us. When we can properly understand sacrifice, we can better unite ourselves to Him through communion. Recognizing the selflessness in personal and collective sacrifices we’ve experienced helps us empathize with the immense love demonstrated by Jesus. When we enter the gym, we should carry that spirit of love every day, not just on Hero workouts. Your attitude and presence when you train in the gym and out of the gym can be what reminds others of the sacrifice of Jesus so that they would know, “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Questions for Reflection:

What’s one of the more memorable sacrifices you’ve made for someone else? Did it draw you closer to them?

Is there a particular element of communion or way that you practice it that makes you feel most unified to Jesus?