When I think of team spirit, I think back on my days of high school and college where I played many team sports such as basketball, volleyball, softball, track and field, badminton, and cross country. I love playing sports and enjoyed my time competing in those early years of my life. One thing that formed my thoughts about life was the concept ingrained into my psyche about unity. The teams I played on floundered in the game and bumbled about when we were not playing together as one team, when we lacked unity. In basketball, chaos would reign when one of our team members hogged the ball. Pride was usually behind that player, for they believed they could do it better on their own. They didn’t trust their team members, their coach, or the crowd telling them to pass the ball! Even if there was a win under these conditions, no one, but the ball hogger felt good. In one situation, some of my team members quit. Their reason? "I’m not needed." Of course our coach addressed the situation and got our important player back. We all understood team unity better when we saw the ugly.
When pride and selfishness creep into our teams, communities, organization, and yes, churches, a climate of chaos ensues. We see ugliness. Unity is broken, love is lost and some quit. On the other-hand, Unity is beautiful, powerful, and miraculous! Unity is our big arsenal against the principalities of darkness!
So as the adults will be hearing a sermon about Unity from Psalm 133, our young ones will also be learning about unity, but from John 17:11. Through scripture reading, bible memorization, unity games and creating a craft stick card stating “STANDING TOGETHER AS ONE,” our kids will be focusing on understanding God’s love unites us, and that as believers we are on Team God!
TEAM GOD
When I think of team spirit, I think back on my days of high school and college where I played many team sports such as basketball, volleyball, softball, track and field, badminton, and cross country. I love playing sports and enjoyed my time competing in those early years of my life. One thing that formed my thoughts about life was the concept ingrained into my psyche about unity. The teams I played on floundered in the game and bumbled about when we were not playing together as one team, when we lacked unity. In basketball, chaos would reign when one of our team members hogged the ball. Pride was usually behind that player, for they believed they could do it better on their own. They didn’t trust their team members, their coach, or the crowd telling them to pass the ball! Even if there was a win under these conditions, no one, but the ball hogger felt good. In one situation, some of my team members quit. Their reason? "I’m not needed." Of course our coach addressed the situation and got our important player back. We all understood team unity better when we saw the ugly.
When pride and selfishness creep into our teams, communities, organization, and yes, churches, a climate of chaos ensues. We see ugliness. Unity is broken, love is lost and some quit. On the other-hand, Unity is beautiful, powerful, and miraculous! Unity is our big arsenal against the principalities of darkness!
So as the adults will be hearing a sermon about Unity from Psalm 133, our young ones will also be learning about unity, but from John 17:11. Through scripture reading, bible memorization, unity games and creating a craft stick card stating “STANDING TOGETHER AS ONE,” our kids will be focusing on understanding God’s love unites us, and that as believers we are on Team God!
Jan Wahlstrom