Sermons for the Month
Baseball, Grace and Comebacks
DATE: October 28th, 2007
SERVICE: Reformation Sunday
TEXT: Romans 3:19-28“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
On Monday morning …you know, THE morning after…I woke up wondering who won the baseball game the night before. When I brought in the newspaper I soon learned the sad news as I read the article titled, "The Meltdown in Beantown". The writer was quick to discount various theories of what might have been noting that the Indians were outscored 30-5 in three games. It was not meant to be, he wrote. There was no grace in his words. Well, not much else was said about the game at the church office that day, although I did try to cheer Judy up by reminding her that she finally could get a good night's sleep. But, when I went to the place where I exercise late that afternoon, the game was "the topic" for the women there. The pitchers, the errors and the team were scrutinized, with a few unkind words thrown in for a Red Sock player who used to date a friend of a friend and had not shown himself to be of stellar character. (You see, women can bring even baseball around to relationships.) There was no grace in any of that discussion. Then I went home and watched the news. When viewers' e-mails were shared the topic was the Tribe and the tone was nasty; there certainly was no grace in those comments. That is until the last message was read; it was from someone who was thanking the team for a great season and who commended there efforts. Finally, a word of grace was spoken! All of this reminded me of an article I read a few years ago titled, "A Theology of Baseball", written by Nancy Becker. In it she quotes today's text from Romans. I have used this piece in a sermon before now, although I can't recall exactly when or how. But, it was just too perfect to pass up since one of her quotes is, "…once you have agonized through a tough pennant race with a team, you never quite recover from it." She writes that baseball dramatizes the human predicament - that of trying to measure up to a standard of perfection, and always falling short. This is the very thing that the Apostle Paul is reflecting on in Romans 3 where is says that the standards of the Hebrew law are impossible to meet, and are a curse, always reminding us of how inadequate we really are. We can never be good enough, which means that, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But, Paul says, there is hope even if we really fall short, a reality which Nancy Becker says reminds her of the first player in the 20th century to make four errors in one inning. The players name is Bob Brenley and the fateful day was in 1986 when he played for the San Francisco Giants. I won't go into the details of what happened, since for me it would be like speaking a foreign language, other than two say that two of the errors were on the same play. Now, can you imagine how he felt when he left the field? That's what it means to "fall short of glory"! However, the game was not over. In the fifth inning he hit a home run. In the seventh inning hit a single that drove in two runs, tying the game. Then, in the ninth, he came up to bat with two outs. The count went to 3 and 2, and then he hit a massive home run to win the game for the Giants. You see, even when he really fell short, there was hope. That certainly was a reality for the Apostle Paul who had been a persecutor of the church and was present for the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He was converted to be a follower of Jesus in a miraculous series of events and throughout his life spoke and wrote about the second chance he received. He was justified, or made right with God, NOT through any thing he had done but by the grace of God that came to him in Jesus Christ. For him, there were more innings to be played, and God used him to bring the Good News that had transformed his life to the Gentiles, to the non-Jews. His message transformed the world in the first century, and then transformed the church in the 16th century. In the early 1500's in Germany, an insignificant monk named Martin Luther had the audacity to study the Bible. His struggle was a common one; although he looked good, Martin Luther was painfully aware of the ways he fell short of God's glory, and was smart enough to know that he could never do enough or give enough to earn or buy God's favor. When he discovered Paul's message of grace in Romans 3, he was freed. But, he also was compelled to stand firm against teachings of the Catholic Church of his day which led people to believe that they could purchase or earn forgiveness, which kept them in bondage to their own resources and abilities. No, Martin Luther said, it's grace alone, faith alone and God's word alone that we rely upon. By God's grace, which came to us in the Living Word, Jesus, and is proclaimed in Holy Scripture, and our faith (which also is a gift of God), we are first forgiven and then empowered. That's what it means to be transformed. It's our legacy, and is a message that can still transform the world. That's why it's appropriate to have Commitment Sunday on Reformation Sunday. While it's true that we are making financial commitments today to the Capital Campaign to fund our Vision of expanding and renovating our building as a tool for ministry, and to the operating and building/grounds fund for on-going ministry, there is a much bigger picture. In doing so we are keeping our faith legacy, and the ministry of Jesus Christ, in this place ALIVE. Our giving is a way to show our gratitude for the grace of God that comes to us undeserved and it's a way to sustain and strengthen the vision of Jesus, of Paul and of Martin Luther. We have something important to offer, a way of life that is shaped by grace; this way is not the focus in many Christian churches. Helping people - including ourselves - to grasp the magnitude of God's grace and to internalize how it empowers us to follow and imitate Jesus is a life-changing proposition. That's why it's so vital that we give sacrificially to gather and grow disciples for mission. After all, God can do more important things with our money than we can. Speaking of questioning the use of money, let's get back to baseball. Remember the e-mail that thanked the Team in the midst of all those that derided them? Well, the writer ended by saying that he or she was looking forward to next year. It reminded me that for believers there is always a next year. Let me quote Nancy Becker because she says it so well. "In Christ, the scorekeeper cancels the errors. (He) gives the losers another chance, a new start, a new beginning. Jesus looks past the errors to the possibilities of the future." (1) A comeback is always an option, even if the number of errors set a record. So, today, we look to the possibilities of the future; we give thanks as we give of ourselves and our resources, and we bask in the grace that overflows in this place. We are more than ready to celebrate a victory that has already been won and 2b Transformed in the process.
AMEN
(1) "A Theology of Baseball" by Nancy Becker, Program #3530, May 10, 1992, www.csec.org