My message series “The Game of Life” continued with a third installment today: Play by the Rules. While I have enjoyed the series thus far (and it seems to have elicited positive response from my congregation), today’s message was the most ‘fun’ to date.
Before worship, I had placed UNO cards in each worshipers bulletin. Then–before our prayer time–we engaged in a dialogue activity in which the number on each person’s card indicated a question, the answer to which was shared with a dialogue partner. All this helped to set up a story about a recent personal experience regarding UNO, rules, and our almost unlimited human capacity to bend the rules.
The sermon really focused on the issue of integrity. My main goal was to drive home the idea that true integrity is not focused on knowing the rules…nor is it focused on obeying the rules (at least in the sense of maintaining an outward, legalistic righteousness). Instead, integrity drives us to become the kind of people who delight in the rules–primarily because we delight in and trust the God who gives them.
You’ll have to see if I succeeded.
