Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Or Can I?


"You believe at last!" Jesus answered. 
John 16:31

Sierra and I watched every single episode of "So You Think You Can Dance" this season.  Except the very last one.  The one where the winner was announced.  Sierra says Amy and Aaron won.  I just can't predict.  The final competitors were all so very good.  And I wanted to know who won.  Really.  I thought I had the show recorded, and I've looked it up on my On Demand listings, but either it's not there or I'm looking in all the wrong places.  I suppose I could just google the results, but that seems kind of anti-climatic.  I want to see the winners.  I want to share in their triumph.  I want to feel like I'm there with them - in time and place with them.

Time and place and shared experience.  They're part of relationship.  During the season, I felt like there was some kind of relationship between me and the contestants on the show.  The producers were pretty darned strategic about building connections - by showing us back story, by prompting the dancers to describe themselves in 15 seconds or less, by catching bloopers and rehearsals.  By helping us, sitting at home, to relate to the competitors.  Giving us shared time, shared place, and shared experience.  It was important to the show because the audience got to vote.  And votes weren't always based on the best technician.  The show was designed that way. 

So, I don't know who won.  And it hasn't made one, single difference in my life.  All of that strategic connection-making hasn't made one difference in how I live, in what I say, in how I think...  Because it wasn't real.  It was manipulated.  The magic of television brought the show into my living room each week - but I could watch a recording of it at anytime and in anyplace.  Fifty years from now, a hundred years from now someone could watch these recordings and the dancers would seem just as young and just as vital, and the show would be just as much about false relationship as it is today.

I say false relationship and it sounds negative.  I don't mean it that way.  I simply mean it is not.  The simplest definition of relationship is "the way in which two or more people or things are connected". (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/relationship)  I'm not connected to these dancers - except through the window of television.

So, what does that say about a relationship with Jesus?  Where's the connections?  Time.  Place.  Experience.  He lived over two-thousand years ago and I can't watch reruns.  Not even through the magic of television can I share time with him.  He lived in Roman-ruled Israel.  His place simply doesn't exist anymore.  And experience?  Good grief - he was fully God and fully man - I can't possibly connect to that.

Or can I?

Heavenly Father, Awesome God, 
Did you intend the world to be in relationship with You through Your Son? 
What a vision!  Help me to do my part - to see Jesus in the world, to know Jesus in the world,
 to connect to Jesus in the world, to follow Jesus in the world.  

Linking With:
Three Word Wednesday

6 comments:

  1. Yes, it's a miracle of God that we're able to relate to him. I like the term "false relationship." Last year I was so into "The Voice," and you do get this weird connection, this investment in the whole process. I decided it wasn't worth it in the end. Thanks for your insight. I'm visiting via Three Word Wednesday at Simply Beth and hope to return here sometime.

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    1. Diane,
      It IS a weird connection. I saw "The Voice", too - and you even get to watch the relationship grow between the singers and their coaches. I think we are so built for these connections, we can't help ourselves. I wonder, sometimes, if the coaches really do keep in touch like they say...I actually started watching 'reality tv' because friends and family were talking about it and I wanted to be able to join the conversation. That's relationship, too.... But you are so right, I thank God everyday for the miracle of my relationship with Him. Thanks for visiting. Janet

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  2. I keep coming back and here and pondering what you have shared. I've given up on TV for the most part but you make me look at it differently. To see the conversations and family time that some shows do help build. I think there are few...but there are some that are nice to watch together. It is amazing to think of this relationship we have with God. The Bible studies I'm doing currently are very much about taking a closer look at defining are relationship. I love this Francis Chan study...Not A Fan. Am I just a fan of Jesus or a committed follower? I believe a committed follower but it's is really making me think more about my daily relationship with Him. Well geez, your post just brought up all kinds of thoughts!! So glad you shared with Three Word Wednesday. Hubby returns home today!!!!!! We have a little over a month together before he leaves. I will be so grateful to hug him today. Wishing you a beautiful day Janet.

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    1. Beth,
      Thank you for adding clarity to my post yesterday - you did! It sounds like "Not A Fan' is related... And it's where I am as well - especially with my writing. I want to be uplifting; I want to find and share joy - but that's not always what comes out. I want to be authentic and write about what I know, but sometimes I feel like I'm over my head - or I just get scattered -or I'm just OUT there - kind of beyond the pale. Sharing your thoughts with me helps - I want to be a committed follower, not just a fan.

      Yay! Hubby time! Love those hugs! Wishing you joy!
      Janet

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  3. Hi Janet! I guess we really should hug the ones close to us, instead of the popularity of TV people. The ones we see are the 'real' ones. I understand your point.

    Interesting about not being able to see Jesus on TV reruns. Wouldn't that be something??? I never thought of that before. Thank you! I love new insights. His place is gone, but his place is now in your heart. I can hear it in your writing.

    Oh, you're connecting just fine.
    Blessings!
    Ceil

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    1. Ceil,
      Kind of left it open-ended, didn't I? Sierra and I watch these shows because it's something else that gives us common ground for conversation - it's very concrete to her (even though I remind her that she doesn't really 'know' the contestants...). And yes, we can't go completely with the time, place, experience thing with Jesus - that's the supernatural thing - He IS risen, and He does live in us -

      I love your thoughtful comments, Ceil - thank you for coming by!
      Janet

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I know we probably haven't met in person, but I believe that the sharing of our ideas and thoughts, sometimes our hearts and souls, makes us more than strangers. I would like to say friends. Thank you for taking the time to contribute to my little space - I appreciate you.