Everyone Is Hooking Up

Everyone Is Hooking Up

I was getting some good conversation time with a new and fastly becoming close friend lately. Met him at a recent conference in Dallas and in conversation there we both realized that we are neighbors in the Third Ward Houston area. We got coffee at a local spot I frequent to catch-up after the conference.  In our conversation he had mentioned that somewhere out West in the California desert thousands of artists, roamers, and artistically hearted people gather to celebrate art, expression, culture, and community. The gathering is called The Burning Man. I was very drawn to this and decided to check out their web site and learned that it started in 1986 with about 300 people. Today the attendance has reached over 69,000. Apparently in this gathering an actual constructed figure in the shape of a man is erected and burned throughout the duration of the festival. I suppose it is to signify the passion of man’s spirit or heart to be creative and expressive himself. Needless to say the fire is catching on.  Also the creators of The Burning Man really seem to take it seriously. They have Ten Principles. Why there are ten I do not know, maybe because it rings like the feel of having Ten Commandments? Anyway, of the ten is one that really stands out to me as a person of faith; it is called Communal Effort.  This festival wants to be communal and I would say even religious. But what are the gatherers of this yearly festival worshipping exactly and is it something that will last?

When I speak with friends of different churches or religious movements I catch that there is a common desire to have community and to find and identity with others in mission among all missional groups. Funny thing is, this is exactly what I see in secular gatherings and when talking to my secular or non- religious friends as well over the purpose of why they gather. We all just long to be a part of something visceral and spiritual with each other. We all want to hook up with each other. In fact, it seems that you can look at life as just a big hook up over one reason or another. I do realize in using that vernacular that it has a heavily intimate and even a sexual connotation and that is indeed my intent in using the phrase. If this makes you feel uncomfortable then I simply will just ask you when was the last time you had a quiet time and prayer with God asking him to speak to you when reading The Songs of Solomon in the Bible. You may be overdue.  The act of closeness with worship and community has been a regular practice since humans have been able to document their religious activity. The major differences seem to be in how to have this community, which way is the right or wrong way.

This past weekend I decided to be brave and attend a Tennessee Titans watch party here in Houston. I had been getting invites on social media for weeks. I know that every Sunday when I seek to watch the Titans game I long for a place to watch where I can see the game clearly without other noises of teams and their fans bombarding my brain. This desire pushed on me so much that I decided to leave my comfort zone and ask my wife if she’d like to go to a watch party at a sports bar with me. She said  yes though she is not a Titans fan, yes I am blessed to have her. When I walked into the sports bar it was like I had walked into what some would say is heaven. That sports bar was my Burning Man. Every first down was cheered. Every score was cheered loader accompanied by high fives and celebratory curse words. I felt myself loosen up over the course of the game and I soon found myself high fiving with a sea of two toned blue strangers. It was nuts. It was spiritual. It was a communal experience. And my wife would just watch me with a smile because I was so happy to be there.

What do we worship when we gather? I hope and pray that your sweet intimacy is not tied to the three plus hours of a sporting event to then quickly end at the end of the game clock, win or loss. I pray that your sweet fellowship is not also simply tied to an ideal of freedom of human expression in a distant Californian desert, where joy is had along with eventually a since of loss once the experience has ended.

Communion is meant to save. When we gather we feel it. We feel life entering our bodies as we do it. What we worship when we gather makes all the difference in a saving communion versus one that though burns passionately when had will eventually burn out, grow cold, meaningless, mundane, and eventually decay. When you gather what is the spirit of your gathering? Is it something that can not save or is it centered around Jesus? Is your communion over a hope of the human spirit or on His Spirit? When the chanting and passion ends what remains? I remember when I used to teach public school a high school student of mine once telling me that she could not spend time with her father when the game was on. She said that he would turn into someone else, someone that yelled, that was angry, mean, and cold. I remember telling her sorry and that I hope he realizes what he is missing around him as he enjoys his time of worship.  A friendship, marriage, job situation, vacation, or just a time sitting on the couch with someone can radically change when addressing the reason of why you are together. I am thankful to have a Savior that makes all my gatherings relevant beyond the endurance of the human spirit alone. Because that has and will fail us, just read your history. I am thankful that Jesus died and rose from the grave to give humanity an invitation into a sweet, intimate, passionate communion that will burn for now and into eternity.

"And this is the way to have eternal life; to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth." - John 17:3