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.
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