Trading Names

 

It was Night 1 of the Worship Team Planning Retreat, and the rousing game of “Postal Worker” -- which I’m pretty sure Lance had made up -- was nearing its end. In this cooperative game, each student had written their first and last name on two separate pieces of paper, mixed them up with everyone else’s, and then picked up two random slips of paper. The postal worker joined the circle with empty hands, and the goal became to pass the papers one neighbor to your left or right (if they had an empty hand) so that your own named papers could return to you. Once everyone had both of their names back in their hands, the group would have won.

Whenever someone managed to get both of their names in their hands, they always asked the same question: “Can I just sit out now?” Lance shook his head every time; this was a group effort. 

During the debrief time, Lance asked only one question, “How was the game ‘Postal Worker’ like worship?” And while the answers about teamwork and communication and compromise were all good, it was Anna’s reply that stood out to me, “Sometimes you have to be willing to trade your name away.”

Isn’t that the heart of worship? To look past our own names and be willing to lay aside any baggage or accolades or expectations that we or others heap on ourselves, and all we do is look to his name. We trade our own names away so that all that matters to us is the glory of his name. How are we representing him to others? How are we holding up a magnifying glass to his name for the increase of his glory? My college class chose Psalm 115:1 as our graduation verse. “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory.” May that be my anthem this new school year.

Anna at BFA's Opening Ceremonies

Paris 2024

Last week a dream came true. Back in 2001, when I was an RA in college, I chose the Olympics as our hall theme and made everyone watch the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City with me. Grandly I announced, “Maybe in 2004 I’ll be in Europe and can go to the Athens Olympics.” Ha! Fast-forward 20 years and throw in a little savings, a free apartment to stay at, a friend willing to be adventurous with you, and the Lord’s personal kindness, and you get three days at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Eek! 

Affordable tickets included a water polo match, a volleyball game, and entry to some Track & Field events. Specifically, we saw women’s pole vaulting, hurdles, men’s discus, 200m semi-finals, triple jump, men’s final steeplechase, and 400m final races (yay Quincy Hall). The atmosphere, especially in the Athletics stadium and at the volleyball arena, were absolutely enjoyable. When we entered the warm-up area for volleyball, you could immediately tell which teams were on which court by the mass of flags fluttering around the cage and the cheers that erupted for every spike. At each event we attended, people clapped for every point and performance, hooting extra loudly if it was their country’s team, but I loved the sportsmanship I got to see and the many, many conversations with the people around us. Whether from Ireland, France, Australia, Turkey, the Netherlands, a fellow American, or an occasional Austrian, one of my favorite things about this experience was the international flavor that permeated Paris. As we walked around the city, we saw people from every corner of the world, proudly draped in their flags with colorful stripes on their cheeks. This TCK felt right at home. 

It was fun to see both super-natural human feats that I could never achieve (hello, Katie Moon of the pole vault) as well as human flaws I could definitely have accomplished (I’m talking of you, scoring debacle in the Turkey-Italy volleyball match). There was the usual volatile bustle of mass transportation in a big city that irked at times, and then there was the kindness of strangers who sold ice-cold bottles of water for a Euro and let you take it for even less when you didn’t quite have the change.

I know full well the Olympics are deeply, deeply flawed in many ways, but I can’t help but glimpse a bit of gospel in the coming together of the nations, the unified task each team faces, and the fight for something bigger than ourselves. How we react to success or failure is extremely telling, and the motivation of why we do anything we do is an opportunity for truth-telling (a nod to you, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone). I’m beyond grateful for my own dream-come-true to witness this.