You may have been watching the World Series of Baseball over the past few weeks. I admit to not watching a lot of baseball during the season (though I am a Braves fan), because the season is long and my interest is only tweaked when we get close to the post-season games. This year's World Series was won by the Houston Astros. But there is something we can learn from baseball that is applicable to our faith.
In the movie, Field of Dreams, James Earl Jones makes a speech to Ray (the main character), about the timelessness and nature of baseball. He says, "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball! America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time." James Earl Jones could have just as easily been talking about the Church. It is timeless ... it is constant ... and it is important in every time and context in history. Why? Because Jesus stood before a rock face (that looked very ominous) in Caesarea Philippi and told Peter (who had just confessed that Jesus was the Son of the Living God) and said ... "Upon this rock I will build my Church (ecclesia, 'the called-out ones') and all the powers of hell will not conquer it! (Matthew 16:18)." The Church of Jesus (not baseball) IS the true constant through all the years!
What can we learn from all of this? If you know a little about baseball, you will realize that home plate is 17 inches wide. It is in the rules and it is a part of the game. 17 inches ... always! They haven't made the plate wider to make it easier for the pitcher to throw the ball over the plate. They haven't made it narrower so that the batter has the advantage. It is 17 inches ... that's it.
There are (at least) 2 current issues that come to mind as we begin our church life as Abbeville Methodist Church under the umbrella of the Global Methodist Church. The first relates to standards. I will post (and send out to all) a copy of the Catechesis of the Global Methodist Church. It is "17 inches", just like it has always been, because it derives its authority from God's Word. What we believe is only true because it is underpinned by Scripture. In my message last Sunday I quoted Isaiah 40:7-8, "Grass withers and flowers fade away when the Lord's breath blows on them, but the word of our God will stand forever." As Christians, we have our differences, our opinions and our skirmishes, but God doesn't have those arguments in the Divine Council ... for God's word is enduring truth. It doesn't change to make it easier for me or you. It is given, not so we can change or transform it, but so that IT can change and transform us. 17 inches is the width of home plate.
My second point relates to grace and the nature of people. Babe Ruth, a giant in the history of baseball, struck out 1,330 times. He got 2,783 hits ... about double the number of strikeouts. But those are a lot of mistakes. Nolan Ryan, one of the greatest pitchers in baseball, gave up about 4,000 hits. By those statistics, we can note that pitchers don't always throw the ball where they want and batters don't always hit the ball. Baseball, and life, is not a game where we are perfect. So ... we need a model or standard of perfection. His name is Jesus, "the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)." We seek Him. We strive to do well. We (according to Hebrews) set our eyes upon Him. We acknowledge our imperfections but we don't ask for rule changes for us ... the plate is still 17 inches wide. It always has been and hopefully always will be.
We seek Jesus' narrow way (Matthew 7:14) that leads to life ... not the big tent that leads to destruction. We could convince ourselves that the road should be widened, so that more traffic could pass. We could ask for the plate to be widened so that it becomes easier to reach 1st base. But then the game becomes something different. And the one that defines and perfects our faith is no longer the authority over that game. We are, historically, not very good at understanding the consequences of rule changes!
All of this discussion is really about something that is not a game after all. It is about our decision we make (or made) when we say/said, "I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and place my trust in Him ... I receive and profess the Christian faith as contained in the Holy Scriptures." Do you remember saying something of that sort when you became a Christian and became part of Jesus' Church? Is Isaiah 40 still true, and does that word of God you confessed changed? Is Jesus still the truth, the life and the way, or has some "other" way been given by the Divine Council of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? Is the Gospel story of Jesus different because some group has decided the Gospel (or home plate) needs to be widened or narrowed? These are the questions of our time ... the ones you need to answer ... and, if you still believe in Jesus' authority, I welcome you to a church filled with imperfect people, trying to get from here to first base, knowing that I will (at best) hit the ball about 1/3 of the time (even the best humans messed up). That is the Church (ecclesia, the called-out ones) in whom Jesus has placed His Spirit that will (by God's power) prevail against the very gates of hell. And all the people said ... AMEN!
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