No One Plays Alone

``No one throws the stone alone. One person releases the stone. Yes. But after that, everything depends upon the people around them. The teammates sweep. The teammates watch the line. The teammates speak constantly. They offer guidance. They give encouragement. Sometimes they say to hold back. Once the stone is moving, the thrower can do nothing to change it. What shapes the outcome is the community surrounding it. [00:48:55] (34 seconds)  #TeamworkShapesOutcome

And then that brings us to the table because if there is any place, it is the communion table that reminds us that we do not walk this journey alone. It's here at this table that we come, and we probably can admit that, yes, we don't always run the race the best way that we can, but Christ still invites us, offers us grace and love and mercy. And so know this, you are invited to the table, not because it's my table, not because it is the Mooresville First United Methodist Church's table, it is Christ's table, and all are invited because no one plays alone. [01:02:45] (57 seconds)  #InvitedToTheTable

Notice that it doesn't start with sin. It starts with weight. It says nothing to do with our New Year's resolutions on weight, just so you know. It starts with weight. You see, some things slow us down not because they're wrong or sinful. They slow us down because they're heavy. Grief is heavy. Sometimes expectations are heavy. Regret that we carry can be heavy. Fear can be heavy. [00:55:56] (37 seconds)  #WeightNotSin

The writer of Hebrews uses athletic imagery and language, yes, because the people listening would have understood that immediately. Remember, they would have understood something like the Olympic games. They had coliseums. They had athletes. When I picture that sometimes in my mind, it also includes lions and tigers and bears. So good. You guys are so good. The people understood what the writer was talking about. Of course, they didn't watch it on their screens. They showed up live in those coliseums to watch. So this is not abstract theology. This is lived out. This is a shared experience. [00:52:08] (43 seconds)  #FaithInAction

So remember those curling phrases that, we laughed at together? There are moments when life asks us to just keep going even when we're tired. Times when faithfulness requires endurance, and sometimes we need what we need most is encouragement. And so we might need to hear somebody say, hurry hard. You've got this. Don't give up. Keep going. [01:00:11] (28 seconds)  #HurryHardKeepGoing

I am very excited about the Winter Olympics. I'm looking forward to the opening ceremony where the athletes come from all over the world, where there are different languages, and there are different flags, and there are different stories, and they're walking together before the competition officially even begins. The world seems to pause. Competition waits. We get to breathe in peace when the Olympics come around. We're reminded that we belong to one another. [00:51:09] (33 seconds)  #OlympicsUniteUs

And they say this because sometimes weariness is real. Sometimes discouragement is real. There are days that we feel strong and focused. Those are great days. And then if we're honest, and we might as well be honest here if we're gonna be honest anywhere, there are other days when what we are trying to do is to just stay upright. And Hebrews doesn't shame us for wherever we are on that spectrum. [00:59:37] (34 seconds)  #NoShameInWeariness

And then there are moments when we are carrying too much, pushing too hard, forgetting that we are actually a human being and we can't do it all. And sometimes the most faithful word that we can hear is a permission to pause. You hear, woah. Woah. Woah. Easy there. Here's the good news, church. This is the great cloud of witnesses. [01:00:58] (27 seconds)  #PermissionToPause