Sydney Sport Celebration Stretches Stiff Cerebrums and Sinews

At church on the last Sunday of May members learnt that they should exercise their stiff muscles and brains so that they can use them in a more satisfying way. In accordance with that message, after the service, Sydney’s Korean Antioch Church and English Bethel Church combined for a ceremonial afternoon of physical activities in the park.

 People were divided into two teams and each team came up with a name and war cry.

One team’s war cry reflected their greatest determination as ‘sam bek’ which is 300, the level of the third heaven which is the highest as Paul talks about in Corinthians 12:2-4. When they said ‘sam bek’, though, Sungbae (with the maroon jumper), acted as if they were calling his name and said ‘yeah’ which amusingly became part of the war cry.

Everyone prayed before beginning and the sports event, composed of seven different activities, commenced.

The first challenge was for the whole team to raise their level at the right time by surpassing the rope that moved from their feet to their head. After this teams tied balloons to their ankles and had to protect their own balloon while trying to pop those of members on the other team.
Next up was the scissors, paper, rock judgment game. Teams had to run to the judge and play scissors-paper-rock with them until they won. The only pain therefore was that of embarrassment.

Every time they lost, they were bopped with an inflatable hammer.

The next game involved using a wooden base, which was lifted up and down by ropes attached to the sides with each one held by a different member of the team, to bounce a ball as many times as possible. The first group tried a variety of strategies such as using control and moving around in order to field the ball if it was bounced at an awkward angle. As often happens in history, such as Christianity becoming more popular than Judaism, the group that came later were more successful than the first.

The Milky Way department had to do their responsibility of reaching out for the prize when the next event provided them with tasty treats which dangled just above their heads from the strings to which they were tied.

The final task was protecting the center which is the same for us in our lives. A game like dodgeball was played where one team had a set area they could move around in and also a set person who they had to protect along with themselves from the balls thrown by people gathered around the outside of the area. If the set person was hit, the team lost. We learnt the value of protecting the center no matter what and the Pastor finished by reiterating the words of the message which showed how fulfilling it was when we exercised our muscles and brains and that we shouldn’t stop at doing it once but continue every day. She prayed to wrap up the festivities and everyone agreed that it had been an enjoyable, harmonious and meaningful day with brothers, sisters and the Trinity.    

By Nick Loader