Holy Stuff

At the sixth meeting of the Starting Point groups, they decide if they would like to continue meeting as a group. It includes time when people talk about the details of what their group will look like going forward: how often, length of meeting, location, format, etc.

One group told me, “We’re not going to form a group. Instead, we’re going to go bowling, go see a movie, hang out at one of our places for pizza, and just get together for social stuff.” They believed that social stuff wouldn’t qualify them as a GCC group!

It’s easy to see how that belief could form. “Let’s study the Bible together or let’s go bowling together.” Which sounds holier? In our culture, Bible study is a religious activity and social stuff is fluff.

I’m not minimizing the value of what we commonly define as holy stuff. Really, I’m not.

I am questioning if social stuff is holy? What if social stuff was redefined by the church?

Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding (guess he thought the party should continue!), talks to a woman at a well, eats with sinners at Matthew’s house, falls asleep in a boat with his friends, brings in a miraculous catch of fish with Peter, and visits with Mary and Martha.

I think it's modeled pretty clearly. Social stuff is holy stuff.

Note: I first wrote this post October 25, 2006, during my second month of blogging. With Mark Beeson's teaching this weekend encouraging us to have some fun with friends, it seemed like the right time to bring it to the surface again.