Dear Mt. Olive sports fans,
If you have any interest in
sports whatsoever, particularly Minnesota sports, then you’ve got to be feeling
pretty good about your teams and the possibilities that just may become
reality.
If the Twins can just get past the Yankees, they’ve got a great
chance at playing in the World Series – and winning!
The Gopher football team is as exciting to watch as I’ve seen for
a long time, and their 5-0 record is a tremendous start to what may be
Minnesota’s year in the Rose Bowl.
And the Vikings!
Wow! Daunte breaks his back and
a guy named Gus comes along and saves the day.
The team is playing with a spirit, an emotion, an excitement, a
precision, that makes them a real joy to watch. (Packer backers, you’ve had your good days! Let us enjoy these good Viking days, and
cheer for the Vikes in the Super Bowl!)
One can’t help but notice some striking similarities between
sport teams and a Christian congregation.
Just as St. Paul makes an analogy between the individual Christian and a
runner in a race or a fighter in Olympic wrestling, so he also compares the
Christian community (congregation, church) to a human body where each part must
do its job or the whole body (congregation, church) suffers.
A quarterback may be exceptionally talented, but if he has no pass
protection and his receivers can’t (or won’t) catch, the whole team suffers and
spirits sag. That applies to every
player and to every position.
One of the Vikings, in an interview after going 4-0, stated that
the reason the team played so well is because they “are clicking,” and because
they “had a great game plan.”
By “clicking,” I assume he meant
that they were all playing as a team.
They were all giving it everything they had. The whole team was focused, committed, and on the same page. And another way of saying they “had a great game plan” is that
they all knew what they were supposed to be doing. They knew their assignments, their responsibilities, and they all
worked together to carry them out.
Our congregation has a great game plan – given to us by Jesus
Himself: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” We also have some exceptional talent, the envy of many other
teams. While we’ve traded some great
players to other teams – as far away as San Diego to the west and Fairfield, CT
to the east, and all points in between, the Lord always provides new
players. (We even have our own Chinese
expansion team sharing our stadium!)
But at times it seems that, as a team, we just aren’t
“clicking.” We have veteran players who
have led the team to many World Series, Rose Bowl, and Super Bowl victories,
but they’re getting tired. We have new
trades, rookies, and draft picks who are ready to take the team to new heights,
but sometimes team spirit is lacking.
Sadly, we also have team members who not only refuse to participate in
the game, but won’t even come out to cheer from the stands.
Folks, we’re a great team!
And we’ve got a great game plan!
Now let’s work on “clicking” - for Jesus’ sake!
Go Olives!