Teamwork
You cannot be a Christian alone
Exercise
Teamwork is living in Christian community.
Why is Teamwork so important?
From the moment Jesus started his ministry, we have been following him together. We each have our own spiritual journey - and we live our faith alongside all our neighbors.
Spiritual Teamwork brings us joy by bringing us deeper into relationship with others.
It brings us closer to God by helping us see the face of Christ in everyone we meet.
In 2014, I ran the New York City Marathon with my husband (actually, he wasn’t my husband yet - we got married just two weeks later). New York is the world’s largest marathon - that day there were over 55,000 people participating. We had to wait for hours just to get to the start line. The winners were done with the race before we began!
It was amazing to be part of this community. I remember a big poster in the expo area that said: ‘Why do I run? To be on a team with millions of members’.
Running that marathon made me feel like this - like I was part of a huge team, all with one goal - the finish line.
Running is a solo sport - so many hours spent training alone. But here, in this race, I felt so bonded to these many strangers, and to the many, many more cheering us along the way.
Teamwork is how Jesus calls us all into community.
Teamwork is the fourth YLWG Spiritual Exercise.
The Teamwork practices are:
Worship: Actions or rites of praise and devotion to God. Worship is a communal activity - full of call and response, ‘Amen’ and ‘Thanks be to God’.
Hospitality: Welcoming and caring for strangers or guests.
Evangelism: Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others.
Communion: Sharing Christ’s body and blood at the table; becoming spiritually intimate. These things are related.
The New York City Marathon is coincidentally always on All Saints Sunday - the first Sunday of November. The year I ran, I was invited to preach at the ecumenical worship service for athletes.
I preached about the ‘cloud of witnesses’, the feeling of connection between all of us.
How Christians believe we’re all neighbors, all on the same team, that even death cannot keep us apart.
Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
(Acts 2:46-47)
Practices
Worship:
Set 1: The work of the people
Set 2: Creating holy space
Set 3: The movement of worship
Set 4: Go to church
Hospitality
Set 1: Welcoming angels at our tables
Set 2: Baptism as hospitality
Set 3: How to receive hospitality
Set 4: Who is ‘the stranger?’
Evangelism
Set 1: The Great Commission
Set 2: How the church was built (Acts)
Set 3: How to do it wrong
Set 4: Marketing for Jesus
Communion
Set 1: The Last Supper
Set 2: Sharing the Sacrament
Set 3: The closest disciples
Set 4: A relationship of recognition and acceptance