March Madness

We are entering the season in the sports world known as March Madness. This is that time of year when college basketball begins the tournament that will decide the NCAA champions.

I was not much of a basketball fan growing up. I played a little with the church RA team but wasn’t very good. I have a hard enough time walking and chewing gum at the same time, much less running while dribbling a basketball. I couldn’t shoot, couldn’t block, and couldn’t pass.

Our family didn’t watch much basketball, not like football or baseball, so it was a sport I didn’t really care about. All that changed when I became the student pastor of the Frank Price Memorial Church in Wilson, NC. The good people of this church introduced me to the joys of the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

My first year in the church, NC State won the national title. The following year UNC won the title. And a few years later Duke won the title. By the time I left North Carolina I’d fallen in love with ACC basketball.

How is it someone who has no interest in basketball can come to love it so much? I had people introduce me to it. My friends at Frank Price shared with me their passion for ACC basketball. I didn’t care about it because I hadn’t been exposed to it.

We live in a world where many people do not know the joys of faith. They are unaware of God’s love, demonstrated in the person of Christ. They have not experienced the fellowship of a body of believers. They know nothing of the peace and assurance that comes from corporate worship. And they never will…unless we introduce them to these things.

This Sunday is a special day in which we will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Our voices will be raised in song, our hearts will be comforted by God’s word, and we will retell the story of conquered death. Who do you know that you can introduce to the Easter experience?