A little sad

I fear writing this because I'm a little afraid of how it might read. Also, the danger in blogs is not knowing who reads them, but its the gamble I'm willing to take. My heart feels heavy, so its worth sharing.

I live in a college town, one that worships football. I too worship football, sadly. I wish this were not the case, but indeed its true. What saddens me about the situation at hand is how greatly it affects mine and other's ability to worship the One True God.

Its often talked about around town that church attendance is low on game weekends. (this is where I don't want this to seem judgemental..attendance is not everything) Its not just the place I choose to worship on Sunday mornings, but many places in town suffer from the same problem. The cause? Saturdays at Bryant Denny. Its not even the drunk fest that keeps people from Sunday worship but rather the Sunday 'hangover' of exhaustion. Which is worse?

A few weeks ago when we were on Fall Retreat with our students, Bama nearly lost to Arkansas. The question was posed. "If losing a game would have affected how you would have worshipped the rest of the retreat, perhaps you should evaluate how you worship Bama football" It got me thinking. Would it have affected my ability to worship God? Really? A football game? And the Creator of the world? Yet I'm so consumed in this so called game that it sincerely affects the life I live. Sad.

Now I can't seem to shake that thought. Especially after worshipping this morning with just a few dozen people at a church thats nearly full each week--my sinful heart can only guess its because Bama played the late game last night. I'm the chief of sinners. I truly am. But I also want to be brave enough to call others out. Worshipping on Saturday pales in comparison to the worship offered on Sunday. Come one, come all. The emotion and excitement we show on a Saturday filling the seats of a stadium should be nothing compared to the emotion and excitement we experience filling the pews of Sunday. I dream of a day when we pack our churches out the same way we pack the stadium, quad and our living room for gameday. I promise, its all worth it.

Blessings.