Dave's Deep Thoughts - Baseball & Faith

Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA.

Let's call this my back to school "What I did this summer" essay

I watched baseball.

That's right, baseball. Lots of it.

The game that has no clock and therefore can go on forever.

I'm not sure what draws me to baseball,

perhaps because its essence 

 is everything that my life is usually not........

slow, oblivious to time, filled with lots of down time

Not only did I watch a lot of baseball on TV,

I went to several games.

Here's what happened at one game....

It was 94 degrees.

That would be 94 degrees while sitting on metal bleachers.

The game was sold out.

One really gets to know one's neighbors when in that close approximation.

Personal space goes out the window

along with personal comfort.

The gentleman five seats down in seat 29

makes his first of many trips to the rest room.

It takes 10 minutes and the contortions of everyone in row 24

to get this man to where he needs to be.

There is a reason baseball is such a slow moving game......

it helps to sell the beer and the nachos.

Early in the game nothing is happening,

no runs, no hits, no action.

Only in baseball do they try to rev up the crowd

by having the organist play

"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands"

What else would I be but happy when my body is confined

to 20 inches of space in 94 degree heat and I am pretty sure

that I am sharing the sweat of my next door neighbors??

By the third inning,

I head to the concessions not because I am particularly hungry,

but because I need to find any waft of fresh oxygen.

Fortunately I have missed the bathroom gentleman

on his way back to seat number 29.

I come back with a large soda and nachos.

This cost me the equivalent of half of my monthly mortgage payment

and I am pretty sure my doctor would be shaking his head at the cholesterol count...

if only he knew.

Lucky me, just as I am wedged back into bleacher row 24, seat 24,

the wave is making its way around the stadium.

I lose 4 nachos in the attempt to surf with everyone.

Somewhere, my doctor is probably smiling.

Meanwhile 40 minutes have passed since the national anthem,

and nothing of any importance has happened on the field.

The organist,

sensing a larger than usual lull in the game, decides to play

that well known Jewish folk song, Hava Nagila.

Everyone is up and clapping in rhythm

as we celebrate life and merriment.

I think there was a circumcision performed two rows back.

Meanwhile, I am just glad that I have not spilled my soda.

The home team gets a runner to third base

but all that excitement evaporates as he is stranded there.

What is there left to do but play the

"Which hat is the ball under" game.

I am usually pretty good at this game

but as I am focused on the jumbo-tron screen,

the gentleman with the small bladder in seat 29

is passing through on his 2nd trip to the restroom

He wedges by just as the moving hats speed up.

I guess that the ball is under the middle hat.

Wrong....... right hat.

People to my right and left are high fiving their correct choice.

This, my friends, is baseball fever.

 The organist sensing the increased energy arising in the crowd,

begins to play the bull fighting, toreador chant.

The crowd rhythmically claps.

If only I had brought my castanets!!

The ballpark is buzzing.

The visiting team scores two runs.

End of buzz.

Somehow 94 degrees feels like 96 degrees when you are losing.

Wave number two comes around the stadium.

You might think this indicates great crowd energy.

It does not.

It indicates great crowd boredom.

The announcer says,

"Everybody clap your hands!"

As the drum machine pounds out eighth notes,

everyone begins to clap in rhythm.

This is fun for about three seconds,

twelve seconds shorter then when we did this in nursery school many years ago.

It was obviously too much for the person who spilled his beer

while trying to clap in the section above me.

I don't recall beer spills in nursery school.......

The home team scores a run

but still trails.

Only one thing can bring the crowd back....

the condiment race

Three poor souls dressed as mustard, ketchup, and relish

race around the playing field.

Mustard wins, relish finishes a close second,

and ketchup suffers a heat stroke in the outfield.

The game is roaring to a glorious finish,

one more trip to the restroom by small bladder guy,

crowd wave number three,

and the seventh inning stretch

where I proclaim "Thank God I'm A Country Boy"

(I am not)

The home team gets a runner to third base in the bottom of the ninth.

Two pitching changes by the visitors,

(which takes about 20 minutes)

is a wasted effort as  the home team ties the game,

sending the game into extra innings.

Sometimes in life,

things just look better farther away.

The closer you get to things,

the more you see the imperfections, the shortcomings, the blemishes.

That is true in churches, in marriages.......

and in any relationship.

The disciples in the time they spent with Jesus,

found out each one's tendencies.

The early church leaders

learned who would be the faithful and who would be the fall away crowd

Those of us who participate in faith communities

learn that we all have a long way to go before perfection.

We are told in  the first letter to the Thessalonians

to "be patient with all people."

Patience is the ingredient that

gives us longevity to stay in relationships,

allowing others, and ourselves to grow to maturity.

Yes, it is more comfortable to watch the game on TV.

But one doesn't get the ultimate feel of being AT the game unless one goes,

 and that includes the comfortable and the uncomfortable moments.

Someday, the guy in the upper deck is going to learn to clap without spilling his beverage.

Someday, the gametime temperature will be 75 degrees and pleasant.

Someday, the baserunner is going to find a way to make it the final ninety feet.

So before you give up on a relationship, a community, or a cause,

remember that a bit of patience will help you get to a better place.

And all the challenges along the way,

will make the last inning all the  sweeter.

The home team eventually won in 13 innings.

By then, many had left and I had room to stretch out.

The temperature dropped into the 80's and a cool late evening breeze arrived.

Patience

It is in time, rewarded.

"Be patient therefore,  brothers and sisters until the coming of the Lord.

Behold the farmer waits for the  precious produce of the soil,

being patient about it, until it gets the early and the late rains.

You too, bee patient, strengthen your hearts,

for the coming of the Lord, is at hand."

                                                    James 5: 7-8

Sunday Worship Scriptures Commentary (September 15)

Sunday, September 15 Sermon – “Almost Persuaded”

Acts 26:27-31

Our reading from the Book of Acts shows the Apostle Paul near the end of his ministry, on trial before King Agrippa, who was the puppet king the Romans allowed to sit on the throne. Paul uses this opportunity to invite Agrippa to become a follower of Jesus.

Agrippa was known to have sympathy toward the Jewish people and some understanding of Jewish traditions. So, Paul appeals to Agrippa’s knowledge of the Jewish faith.

If Agrippa answers Paul that he does believe in the prophets, this will open the door for Paul to say that he does believe in the possibility of resurrection and so why not believe in the resurrection of Jesus? Paul is very gifted at sharing his faith with Roman authorities!

Agrippa doesn’t take the bait, but he was probably a little embarrassed since Paul was exposing his double loyalty with the Roman Empire and the Jewish faith.

Like Agrippa, we can struggle in living a “double life” where we have divided loyalties. What does it mean for us to be fully persuaded that Jesus is our Lord and Savior? Are we willing to fully commit our lives to Jesus Christ?

Galatians 5:22-24

The Letter to the Galatians has been referred to as the "Magna Carta" book of the Bible because of it's emphasis on the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. In our passage today, the Apostle Paul describes what it means to live in this new Christian freedom by listing the fruit of the Spirit.

Paul contrasts the “works of the flesh” with the “fruit of the Spirit.” These are two lists that he provides in this section of his letter. This is the difference that God makes in someone’s life when that person is baptized into the life of the church community.

To be born in the flesh, is to be born into a fallen world of sin. To be born in the Spirit, is to become part of Christ and his family which includes nine qualities (the fruit of the Spirit.) These do not come naturally. We need to be open to God’s Spirit and to be intentional in incorporating these into our daily lives. This is why Paul writes that we need to “line up with the Spirit” (v. 25.)

How would our lives be different if we were more intentional about living in the Spirit and living out the fruit of the Spirit? How would the church be different?

Sermon (September 8) by Rev. Cheryl Foulk - "The Potter"

Our focus today is on the potter

                              No,  not Harry Potter …..

but the Biblical image of the craftsman who works with clay.

Jeremiah was a major Hebrew prophet who lived  and preached in Jerusalem area  during the fall of the kingdom of Judah  about 600 years before Jesus was born.  He goes to the house of a potter and  what he sees there  reminds him of God's work in this world. Jeremiah sees that the potter is working on a lump of clay, and something goes wrong. The potter  does not throw the twisted clay away but continues to work on it until he is satisfied with the result.

Jeremiah  sees God as an artist with our lives displaying that creativity. To work with clay is an ancient activity but also a modern one. Artists all over the world still search for good clay, prepare it, center and shape it over and over on the wheel, dry it, and fire it in kilns producing beautiful and practical pieces of art.

Let's take a trip to the potter's house and see what we can learn about ourselves and about God.

               

First thing we would notice is that the  potter becomes immersed   working with the clay.  You become splattered with dirt   from head to toe.  There is a close relationship going on between the potter and the clay. The Pueblo Native Americans  in New Mexico  have continued their centuries old tradition of creating pottery.   When they speak of making pottery, they say they are “talking with the clay” ...  and  that their hearts are “ right there with the clay.”

In an intimate way, the one who shapes the clay tries to understand it,  and reveal its' true nature.  Potter is in conversation with the clay to discover what the clay might be. The artist may have one idea for the clay, and the clay reveals a different direction.  Part of the joy of being a potter is being surprised by the end result!

In such a way, we are in relationship with God and God is invested in our lives.  Like a potter  God works with attention and with great care listening to us, encouraging and guiding.  God is not distant but involved with our lives and with our world.

Second thing that we would see is that the potter works to discover  what this lump of clay is like because  each  is different and unique with many  different qualities.

Potter evaluates the condition of the clay.

 A young artist said when you hold a piece of soft clay there is “so much potential and possibility” which I believe is God's outlook  also towards us.

Reality is that hardly any clay is perfect ; most have impurities and lack a needed component.  Nevertheless a  master  artist can coax wonders out of the clay. Our reality is that all of us have our imperfections, our weaknesses, our sins.

Heather Kopp writes a very honest blog about her Christian faith and her addictions. (Sober Boots) She posted this week about feeling badly about herself because of how she had treated her husband. In the midst of her self-hatred, she felt God's compassion once again. She writes” How come I can't seem to get this through my head? No matter how hard I try. I'll never get beyond being human.”

We are the clay. God realizes our condition and limitations, and yet is willing to accept and love us. One of the Pueblo potters said: You don't destroy a pot because it has an imperfection. You love it as much as you would a perfect pot.”

Third thing we would see there is that the potter does not rush to make the pottery but knows that it requires persistence and patience.  If you try to throw a pot too quickly it will collapse. Potter attempts to center the clay on the wheel, and then shapes and reshapes the clay to bring it into harmony.

To turn a lump into a bowl, cup , or vase, the clay has to be opened.  The potter

presses into the center and opens the clay.   (Left hand on outside- right hand presses into top of clay.)

It requires trust on our part to allow ourselves to be centered in God's will, to not depend solely on our own understanding.  We make the choice of being shaped in ways that are for the good, or whether we will be misshaped by all that would harm us.

My father in law centers himself and is shaped every day by a habit he has had for many years. No matter how early he had to be at work, he began his day sitting in his chair reading from his Bible and the Upper Room in the darkness and quietness of pre-dawn. That faithful image of him  will always remain in my mind. It was this practice that helped him face the day. What centers and shapes you?

Fourth thing we see is that the potter leaves marks on the clay. This could be in the form of fingerprints  or a special marking on the finished product. Some pottery  is distinctive enough that you would know that it was made by a particular artist because of the style or the glaze.

In Edgefield ,South Carolina in the early 1800's there lived a slave who went by the name of Dave. He became a potter and made many pieces in his lifetime. He also learned how to read and to write which was illegal and dangerous for a slave. Dave the potter did something very unique: he signed many of the jars and jugs that he made. He even wrote lines of poetry that are still visible on the pottery.  Even though he was bought and sold over and over in his lifetime and regarded by his owners as a piece of property, he had such a yearning to claim  the pottery that he had made. He wanted to leave   his mark upon it because he took delight in his creation.

We are made in the image of God, and there should be something about us that reflects our creator. We are an expression of God's heart and will., and we are marked by God's touch.  God's delight is in us!

Final  observation is that the potter does not give up on the clay.  No limit as to how many times clay can be molded. While throwing the clay on the wheel, if the clay  wobbles then the potter begins again.

Diana Glyer has expressed this well: “Unlike the human potter, the Divine Potter is never finished but always brings about something new. In us. And though us.” 

We may not always realize God's presence in our lives, but God's work is constant and his hand stays upon us.

God wants to reshape, refine,  our hearts, our church, our community, our nation , our world.   God has visions that we will be living vessels of service and love and justice;  jars that will hold life giving water,  bowls that will feed the hungry, lamps that provide light.

There is judgment  but also promise for the world in Jeremiah's vision. 

  To the potter there is always the possibility of a miracle. God is not finished.

  As long as we are still in the care of the master potter, there  is hope!

In this grace filled relationship with the potter, where are you?  

Are you being challenged to say “yes  “ to God's work in your life?

Do you want to be more centered in God's will, and more open to his guidance?

Has your life taken a turn you did not expect and yet you are trusting in God more than ever?

 Are you humbled  by how tenderly God has taken the broken pieces of your life and made a mosaic that   you could never have imagined?

We are all God's treasures in jars of clay.

All of us are works in progress.

All of us are beloved and signed by the potter.

Sunday Worship Preview - September 22

Sunday, September 22 - (9:00, & 10:30 Services) & Wednesday, September 25  (6:30 pm Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue)

Sermon - "Are You Ready to Grow In Your Prayer Life?"

Features - 18th Sunday After Pentecost & 2nd Sunday of Church-Wide 40 Day "Committed to Christ" Focus

Scripture - I Thessalonians 5:12-22 & Luke 6:12-19

Theme - If we want to be committed to Christ,there are six vital areas in which we need to give our time and focus. Each of these areas will help us to become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. One of these areas is in our commitment to prayer.

Church-Wide "Committed to Christ" Focus - September & October

This month, our congregation will begin a forty day journey exploring the theme of what it means to be fully committed disciples of Jesus Christ. During each Sunday of our seven week journey, we will be invited to make personal commitments in the areas of prayer, bible reading, worship attendance, witnessing, financial giving, and service. Several of our Sunday School classes and small groups will be focusing on these topics as well. We will have ministry fair displays corresponding to each week's theme beginning Sunday, September 22.

We are also invited to participate in a forty day devotional book reading beginning Wednesday, September 11 and lasting through Saturday, October 26. These have been available in our church parlor.

One of my prayers during these weeks leading up to our forty day journey is for us to make worship attendance a top priority during this time. Our weekly worship services (September 15 through October 27) will give us a lot to think about as we seek to be fully committed disciples of Jesus Christ.

Sunday Worship Preview - September 15

Sunday, September 15 - (9:00, & 10:30 Services) & Wednesday, September 18  (6:30 pm Casual Service @ Crossroads, 2095 Fair Avenue)

Sermon - "Almost Persuaded"

Features - 17th Sunday After Pentecost & Launch of Church-Wide 40 Day "Committed to Christ" Focus

Scripture - Acts 26:27-31 & Galatians 5:22-24

Theme - If we want to be committed to Christ,there are six vital areas in which we need to give our time and focus. Each of these areas will help us to become faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. All of this begins with a strong commitment.

License Plate Sightings - JESOTHU

    

     For the past several Sundays, we have been following the teachings of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke. To help us remember these teachings, we have been using vanity license plate messages.

     Since this is the last Sunday for this series, let’s see if we can remember each of these license plate messages. We’ll put one at a time on the screen and just go ahead and shout out the message.  Hopefully, many of you will remember these. So, let’s look at the first message:

     KISS – Keep it simple, saint. This was the story where Mary and Martha spent time with Jesus. Martha missed out on learning from Jesus because she was distracted by being too busy, while Mary kept things simple by focusing on what Jesus wanted to tell her.

     NOK2OPN – Knock to Open. This is where Jesus taught the disciples how to pray by teaching them the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus said that all we need to do is to knock and Jesus will open the door to us. That’s all we need to do.

     ENUF – Enough. Jesus teaches us the meaning of enough.  He tells us to guard against all kinds of greed and to not store up treasure for ourselves but to instead, be rich toward God.

     REDE2DN – Ready to the end. Jesus tells us to always be ready in our faith because Jesus will come back at an unexpected hour. Be ready to the end.

     STAN4ME – Stand for me. Jesus tells us that people will not always understand why we follow him. It will cost us something. Being a follower of Jesus isn’t always easy.

     HOPE4ME – Hope for me. This was last Sunday’s message and it’s where Jesus heals a woman who had been ill for eighteen years. With Jesus, there is always hope for us. God is always reaching out to us with his healing love.

     And here’s today’s vanity license plate. This one stands for Jesus, Others, & You. Jesus wants us to have our priorities in order.

     For this Sunday, Luke tells the story of the time when Jesus went to the house of a Pharisee for a meal and it was a Sabbath day. It’s interesting that the people who were around the table with Jesus were watching him closely.

     That’s what I hope we have been able to do over these past several Sundays. I hope that we’ve been able to watch Jesus closely through the Gospel of Luke. When we watch Jesus, we can learn what it means to follow him. We can learn from him because he has so much to teach us.

     In today’s gospel reading, we learn some table manners. Now, I don’t have the best table manners. I always have to think really hard about which bread plate or which drinking glass is mine. I don’t always get this right. I do know to put the napkin on my lap, to not eat until everyone has their food, and to have polite conversation.

     Well, for whatever reason, these aren’t the table manners that Jesus wants to teach us at this dinner scene. Jesus has some other table manners in mind. And I don’t think that his actions and what he had to say went over very well with the people who were carefully watching him. It certainly didn’t go over well seven chapters earlier when Jesus attended a dinner party.

     So, here’s the first table manner lesson from Jesus. God is the most important part of the dinner gathering. The most important thing at a meal isn’t the placement of the utensils or where you should place your drinking glass. The most important thing is to know that God is present at your meal.

     During the time of Jesus, the religious leaders had all kinds of rules about what you could and couldn’t do during a meal. One of those rules was to not allow anybody who was considered ritually unclean with a disease to be part of that meal.

     And guess what? Here at this meal was a man who had a disease. He was considered a nobody and yet Jesus healed this man! Not only did Jesus affirm this man’s place at this meal, but he also healed him on the Sabbath which was another rule that was not meant to be broken.

     The reason Jesus broke the rules was because he knew that the most important table manner of all was to keep God and not rules as the most important part of the dinner gathering. By keeping God first at that meal, Jesus was able to offer healing to this man with a disease.

     What would it be like if we would remember to keep God first in everything we did?  I think that this would help us to know which table manners to keep and which table manners are not worth keeping. Jesus is helping us to see that we can know where every fork and spoon should be placed at a table setting but if we don’t keep God first, none of these other rules really matter.

     The second table manner that Jesus teaches us is to put others first.  Immediately after Jesus broke the table rules by healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus teaches a lesson about where people should sit during a meal.

     Jesus says that instead of going for the best seats, to first think of others and to let them have the better seats. Like in many social settings today, in the time of Jesus, people believed that those with titles and social standing were superior to everyone else and should have the better seats. And so Jesus teaches them that to be his follower, they need to humble themselves and allow others to be first.

     On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost.

     Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.

     Some of the new members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea.

     They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they re-decorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club.

     Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired life boat crews to do this work.

     The mission of life-saving was still given lip-service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the life-saving activities personally.

     About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people.

     They were dirty and sick and some of them were from foreign places and spoke strange languages and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.

     At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal pattern of the club.

     But some members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. They did.

     As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another life-saving station was founded.

     And as the story of the lighthouse goes, if you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but now most of the people drown!

     I think of this story of the saving station and how Jesus taught us to put others first. There is a real temptation for us to forget the primary purpose of the church. The purpose of the church is to think of others before we think of ourselves. It’s to remember our primary mission and why we exist in the first place.

     Jesus has taught us two table manners so far. God is the most important part of the dinner gathering and we are to think of others before ourselves.

     And the third table manner – Remember that you are also invited to be at God’s table.  And so, the table manners begin with God, they extend to others, and they also include us.  Jesus, others, and you. That’s what Jesus wants us to remember.

     Toward the end of the dinner in our gospel reading, Jesus tells us that if we put God and others first, that we will be blessed. He even says that we will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

     Just a few months ago, some leaders in our community including people from our church helped launch an exciting community wide program called “Sharing Hope.” It’s a program to help people in our local community get out of poverty and to make a better life for themselves.

     Each gathering includes people who are in poverty as well as people who want to help make a difference in their lives. Whenever they meet, they have a meal together. And during that meal, it doesn’t matter the economic levels of the people who are there. What matters, is that everyone is there to help and encourage each other.

     I wasn’t able to attend the first dinner gathering but I was able to attend the second meal gathering. One of the community leaders who is helping with this program has been preparing the meals and donating the food because we’re on a shoestring budget, especially for this first year.

     When this kind hearted volunteer with a heart of gold saw me at our second dinner gathering, he said, “Robert, last week’s gathering was just incredible. During our time of sharing around the circle, a woman in the group really opened up about her life making us all tear up, and that was just our first meeting. This gathering really is about sharing hope!”

     You should have seen the smile on his face as he told me this story. I know that Jesus said that we will receive our reward in heaven, but I could tell that this man was receiving his reward a little early.

     As we come to receive Holy Communion this morning, we come because Jesus is the host. And we come with others because there is always room for one more. And we come to this table, because we need to eat, too.