As my kids closed out a week of VBS yesterday, I took a few extra moments to enjoy the energy in the room as I dropped them off and admired all the "Crazy Day" outfits and hairdos. As I was hanging out I heard the leader share "God calls us to have fun." What a great statement but I am pretty sure fun didn't make it into my Bible -- in any of the multiple translations on my shelf. As I searched my memory I came up with Biblical terms like party, celebration, joy, goodness...but fun?
In Christian practice I certainly adhere to the belief that "God calls us to have fun" but I don't know that it ever would have made my list of "callings" before yesterday morning. As I broached the topic last night after dinner my husband was quick to pull in the Christians being killed by ISIS. Talk about a downer in my "fun" conversation. But I have to wonder if there isn't an excitement and fun to following Jesus would they really be willing to put their very lives on the line?
"Unspeakable Joy" is a term used in one of the songs my kids have learned in VBS and that I am certain is a Biblical calling to live into. I am pretty sure "unspeakable joy" is better understood by the Chistians laying down their lives for their faith then it ever can be through the fun my kids have been having at VBS this summer. But I think fun is a foretaste of that "unspeakable joy" that gives Christians strength to live out faith in hard spaces. Fun is a little crumb from the banquet table. As I stood Friday morning experiencing the fun of "Crazy Day " I am quite sure God was the very essence of the heartfelt expressions on the faces in that room - young and old. It may have just been a crumb but it was a very real taste of the joy of the Lord which is our strength.
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In Christian practice I certainly adhere to the belief that "God calls us to have fun" but I don't know that it ever would have made my list of "callings" before yesterday morning. As I broached the topic last night after dinner my husband was quick to pull in the Christians being killed by ISIS. Talk about a downer in my "fun" conversation. But I have to wonder if there isn't an excitement and fun to following Jesus would they really be willing to put their very lives on the line?
"Unspeakable Joy" is a term used in one of the songs my kids have learned in VBS and that I am certain is a Biblical calling to live into. I am pretty sure "unspeakable joy" is better understood by the Chistians laying down their lives for their faith then it ever can be through the fun my kids have been having at VBS this summer. But I think fun is a foretaste of that "unspeakable joy" that gives Christians strength to live out faith in hard spaces. Fun is a little crumb from the banquet table. As I stood Friday morning experiencing the fun of "Crazy Day " I am quite sure God was the very essence of the heartfelt expressions on the faces in that room - young and old. It may have just been a crumb but it was a very real taste of the joy of the Lord which is our strength.
