What Is Posterized?
Read this scenario and you may recognize “Posterized” right away.
Who recognizes the name “Frederic Weis?” Anyone?
What if I told you he is French, does that help?
What if I told you he played for the French Olympic Basketball Team in 2000 at the Sydney Games?
Still no?
What if I showed you the picture below?
Frederic Weis is in the white jersey.
All the basketball fans, at least, are now saying “OH YEAH!”
Because this is without a doubt the greatest “posterization” in basketball history. Vince Carter, who nearly every basketball fan remembers, literally jumped over a 7’2″ French guy who hardly anyone remembers – except – for this poster that hung in many a young kid’s room growing up.
Don’t Speak Basketball?
For those who don’t speak “basketball,” when you get “posterized” it means you got dunked on in such a ferocious way that you will end up infamously on the poster of that great moment, only not on the good side of the memory. Kids will pass by your image every day, but – on the bright side – at least they’ll remember your name. Even though Weis’ basketball career didn’t earn him a name, he joked with ESPN during an interview 15 years later, “Hey, at least people know who I am!”
One of the hallmarks of human beings for as long as history records are the desire to be known and leave a legacy. The biography of Alexander Hamilton is littered with his infatuation with his legacy. Henry VII started an entirely new church so he could find a way to have a male heir. And do we need to revisit King Herod’s infatuation with a legacy that led to him killing his own children and slaughtering every child under 2 when he learned of Jesus’ birth from the Magi?
It seems that innate within us is a need to be recognized and made to feel important.
What The Bible Says About Posterizing
What if I told you a few things about God?
- Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you…”
- John 10:14 – “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me.”
- Psalm 139:1 – “O LORD, you have searched me and known me.”
- Matthew 10:29-31 – “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
School Is Back In Session
That’s the kind of “posterization” we were going for as school got back in session. Each student in 6th grade and above on our rosters came home to a poster so that they know their church knows their name.
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Our Students Participated In Posterizing
But the posterization didn’t stop there. Our children and students not only received the gift of recognition but gave it to the children and teachers of Harper Elementary.
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Teachers Welcomed Back With Posters
Those posters were then taken and put all over Harper Elementary so that the students there would know they are known, seen, recognized, and loved.
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It’s the positive recognition of God that we wanted to posterize people with. Not only during the school year, but all year long, we want the people of. Creekwood to help the people in our community know that #YouBelong – with God, to God, and as part of God’s beloved people.
Sharing Positive Posterized Stories
This is just one way I pray our community saw Jesus through us recently. I hope you’ll share with me other stories because your eyes are attuned to the God who knows your name working all around us.
Peace,
David Lessner
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