Predictions
11/02/23 01:24
There is a lot of important business for the annual meeting of our congregation on Sunday. We will be voting on a slate of new officers and volunteer leaders for the year to come. We will be voting on a budget that includes some big changes including a change in the staffing structure of the congregation. We will be receiving a recommendation that we add solar panels to the building and move toward additional energy conservation measures. However, I am predicting that it will be a short meeting.
I’m making that prediction despite the fact that last year’s annual meeting was the longest local congregational annual meeting that I have ever attended. The meeting, held over Zoom, lasted for more than three hours.
Here, are my reasons for my prediction, however. Number one: Our church building is now shared with Garden Street Methodist Church. Our annual meeting begins at 11 am. Their worship service begins at 2 pm. We are bound by contract with our sister congregation to be out of the sanctuary by 1:30 pm. Number two: It is Super Bowl Sunday and the game begins at 3:300 pm Pacific Time. That means that the pregame show will be running by the time the meeting starts and Super Bowl parties will be beginning in the homes of church members at least a hour before the kickoff of the big game.
This will be an entirely new experience for me. I’ve attended a lot of congregational annual meetings. This will be the 51st local church annual meeting for me of a church where I am a pastor. The first seven years of our career we served two congregation with two distinct annual meetings. I have never, however, attended the annual meeting of a congregation on Super Bowl Sunday. This was true for many years when Super Bowl Sunday was the last Sunday in January and we served congregations where the constitution required that the annual meeting be held during the month of January.
I may be making predictions about the length of the annual meeting, but I am not making predictions about the outcome of the Super Bowl. I might have a slight bias urging me to cheer for the Kansas City Chiefs because our daughter and son-in-law lived near Kansas City for 5 years. On the other hand, they are dedicated New York Giants fans and the Giant’s didn’t make it to the big game this year. And I have nothing against the Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams come into the game with the same win/loss record for the season. It appears to be a good match up. Therefore, I suppose it might be good to consult the experts for predictions about the game. I’m not talking about the Las Vegas odds makers or the retired professional football coaches and players who will provide color commentary for the game.
As with the weather, it appears that there are animals who have been engaged to predict the outcome. Pabu, the red Panda at Zoo Montana has picked the Philadelphia Eagles. An elephant named Brazos at a zoo in Texas made the same prediction with a big play. In Iowa, however, a mother-daughter pair of giraffes named Bakari and Zola favored the Kansas City Chiefs. A wolf named Chakra in Colorado, however, went for the Eagles. Fiona the hippopotamus at the Cincinnati Zoo took her own sweet time. According to BBC news, she doesn’t have a very good track record of picking the right team. However, after some consideration, she eventually went with the Chiefs. Fritz, the other Hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo, however, disagreed and went with the Eagles. I guess we might have predicted that Butters the great Horned Owl at the Toronto Zoo would favor birds and go with the Eagles, which she did. But you know what they say about football being a game of the USA, and Butters is a Canadian.
With all of the Zoos that have gotten into the business of making predictions, I suppose that I should get in on the action. For several years, I wrote a script that was commentary based on biblical passages for a sports fan who served as liturgist in our congregation to read on Super Bowl Sunday. It was a bit of a comedy routine that we enjoyed and which didn’t bother the congregation too much so it was repeated for enough years to make it a tradition for the person who recruited lay readers to make sure that the same sports fan was signed up for Super Bowl Sunday every year. Eagles are mentioned in the Bible over 30 times, mostly in the Hebrew scriptures. The Eagle is a symbol of loving care in many of those passages. I’m not sure of the role of loving care in winning football games, however. Chiefs, however, are all over the Bible - about 328 passages refer to Chiefs, who are generally leaders among the Edomite people or heads of clans. In the Gospels there are references to the Chief Priests of the Temple as well. Chiefs are generally presented in a positive light as leaders, but not in all cases. It would be hard to make a theological prediction based on the names of the teams. Is being mentioned in the Bible a better thing than being mentioned fewer times but with more respect?
I guess making predictions about a football game just isn’t my specialty. Then again, I’m not really any good at predicting the length of a congregational meeting. Robert’s Rules of Order were originally drafted for use in church meetings to provide for a bit of decorum in emotionally charged situations. And Roberts Rules of order allow for the tabling of a motion to a specific time and place, which means that the meeting of the congregation could, technically, be continued even though the Methodists are chomping at the bit to get into the sanctuary to prepare for their worship service.
I guess we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens.
I’m making that prediction despite the fact that last year’s annual meeting was the longest local congregational annual meeting that I have ever attended. The meeting, held over Zoom, lasted for more than three hours.
Here, are my reasons for my prediction, however. Number one: Our church building is now shared with Garden Street Methodist Church. Our annual meeting begins at 11 am. Their worship service begins at 2 pm. We are bound by contract with our sister congregation to be out of the sanctuary by 1:30 pm. Number two: It is Super Bowl Sunday and the game begins at 3:300 pm Pacific Time. That means that the pregame show will be running by the time the meeting starts and Super Bowl parties will be beginning in the homes of church members at least a hour before the kickoff of the big game.
This will be an entirely new experience for me. I’ve attended a lot of congregational annual meetings. This will be the 51st local church annual meeting for me of a church where I am a pastor. The first seven years of our career we served two congregation with two distinct annual meetings. I have never, however, attended the annual meeting of a congregation on Super Bowl Sunday. This was true for many years when Super Bowl Sunday was the last Sunday in January and we served congregations where the constitution required that the annual meeting be held during the month of January.
I may be making predictions about the length of the annual meeting, but I am not making predictions about the outcome of the Super Bowl. I might have a slight bias urging me to cheer for the Kansas City Chiefs because our daughter and son-in-law lived near Kansas City for 5 years. On the other hand, they are dedicated New York Giants fans and the Giant’s didn’t make it to the big game this year. And I have nothing against the Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams come into the game with the same win/loss record for the season. It appears to be a good match up. Therefore, I suppose it might be good to consult the experts for predictions about the game. I’m not talking about the Las Vegas odds makers or the retired professional football coaches and players who will provide color commentary for the game.
As with the weather, it appears that there are animals who have been engaged to predict the outcome. Pabu, the red Panda at Zoo Montana has picked the Philadelphia Eagles. An elephant named Brazos at a zoo in Texas made the same prediction with a big play. In Iowa, however, a mother-daughter pair of giraffes named Bakari and Zola favored the Kansas City Chiefs. A wolf named Chakra in Colorado, however, went for the Eagles. Fiona the hippopotamus at the Cincinnati Zoo took her own sweet time. According to BBC news, she doesn’t have a very good track record of picking the right team. However, after some consideration, she eventually went with the Chiefs. Fritz, the other Hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo, however, disagreed and went with the Eagles. I guess we might have predicted that Butters the great Horned Owl at the Toronto Zoo would favor birds and go with the Eagles, which she did. But you know what they say about football being a game of the USA, and Butters is a Canadian.
With all of the Zoos that have gotten into the business of making predictions, I suppose that I should get in on the action. For several years, I wrote a script that was commentary based on biblical passages for a sports fan who served as liturgist in our congregation to read on Super Bowl Sunday. It was a bit of a comedy routine that we enjoyed and which didn’t bother the congregation too much so it was repeated for enough years to make it a tradition for the person who recruited lay readers to make sure that the same sports fan was signed up for Super Bowl Sunday every year. Eagles are mentioned in the Bible over 30 times, mostly in the Hebrew scriptures. The Eagle is a symbol of loving care in many of those passages. I’m not sure of the role of loving care in winning football games, however. Chiefs, however, are all over the Bible - about 328 passages refer to Chiefs, who are generally leaders among the Edomite people or heads of clans. In the Gospels there are references to the Chief Priests of the Temple as well. Chiefs are generally presented in a positive light as leaders, but not in all cases. It would be hard to make a theological prediction based on the names of the teams. Is being mentioned in the Bible a better thing than being mentioned fewer times but with more respect?
I guess making predictions about a football game just isn’t my specialty. Then again, I’m not really any good at predicting the length of a congregational meeting. Robert’s Rules of Order were originally drafted for use in church meetings to provide for a bit of decorum in emotionally charged situations. And Roberts Rules of order allow for the tabling of a motion to a specific time and place, which means that the meeting of the congregation could, technically, be continued even though the Methodists are chomping at the bit to get into the sanctuary to prepare for their worship service.
I guess we’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see what happens.
