Thursday Conversation – July 15 at 9:00 pm
Zoom – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
Sunday School – July 18 at 9:30 am
Zoom – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
Gather for Worship – July 18 at 10:00 am
Zoom – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
“Name a country whose name ends in a vowel”
‘That’s a Pointless Answer!’
In our household, we enjoy watching on YouTube a British game show called ‘Pointless’.
The object of the game is for pairs of contestants to guess the most ‘obscure’ answer in order to score the fewest points. Everyone hopes to give a ‘pointless’ answer and score zero points!
The host explains that 100 people were given 100 seconds to answer a question. The questions are such things as:
‘Name an element in the periodic table that has at least three syllables in its name.’
“Name a President of the USA who had at least two of the following letters in their name – D G H I O S W’
‘Name a team who played in the Premier League between the years 1992 and 2019.’
Contestants try to avoid obvious answers and come up with something so obscure that the 100 people polled will not have mentioned it.
So, the best answer is the least likely answer. The least in points is the most in reward. The pointless answer is the most profound answer. The optimum response is the most obscure one.
Maybe we like Pointless because it reminds us of the way God works in the world!
God seems to choose obscure people through whom to change the world.
God seems to be found in the least prominent people.
God seems to manifest in the most pointless ways and places.
God thinks the last shall be first.
At the time of Jesus, if you surveyed 100 hundred people asking them to name the 100 most important and influential people in world history, the high-scoring answers would have included Caesar, Herod, maybe a Pharoah or two.
The most obscure of answers would have named a Jewish carpenter from a small village travelling on foot with what’s-their-names who make their living by fishing.
The most pointless responses to life – forgiving others, praying for our enemies, sharing five loaves of bread with thousands who are hungry, washing someone’s feet, assuming a role of insignificance in order to serve others – would turn out to be the most profound responses of God to life.
So, we invite you to spend some time this week paying attention to what is pointless, what is obscure, what seems the most insignificant. In doing so, we invite you to spend some time this week with God.
This Sunday, July 18, you are invited to join with others online. Brenda LeBeau will lead Sunday School at 9:30 a.m. At 10 a.m. we are invited to gather for online worship followed by a time of visiting.
The Zoom link for Sunday morning is the same link we use for our weekly Thursday morning chats. Everyone is welcome to join us tomorrow morning from 9 to 10 a.m.
TMUC’s ZOOM link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7538449219
By phone:
Meeting ID: 753 844 9219
+1-204-272-7920
We keep you in our prayers,
Carol and Jeff
p.s. Canada was not a Pointless answer!