February 24th:
Be Confident Call: Psalm 27 (758) Text: Philippians 3:17 - 4:1 Read: W&S #20 Be Confident Despite the Syracuse - Georgetown game yesterday, I enjoy sports so much. This is the case even though I was never a gifted athlete. My greatest athletic success came in my early forties As a pitcher and singles hitter In a coed, slow pitch, church softball league. No high school or college letters for me I just wasn't good enough. But I enjoy sports And I think the reason is that Sporting contests are "real." There is no screen writer preordaining the results By writing the words and actions for both teams. And because they are real, sports teach us lesson after lesson. [pause] We learn that each of us has different gifts We learn about team work and about working to improve. We learn about pressure. In sports we experience Winning and losing; Triumph and defeat; Success and failure. Being cheered and being booed We even learn by things that seem unjust Like last Fall when NFL replacement officials Inaccurately applied a rule And by doing so, gave Green Bay an undeserved loss to Seattle. And so, conscious of the fact that the March Madness of the NCAA basketball tournament is fast approaching, it seems appropriate to look to the basketball court for a lesson a lesson in grasping some words that Paul wrote to the church at Philippi. Imagine that there is one second left in a crucial game Team A leads Team B by a single point, but has just fouled a Team B player The fouled Team B player goes to the line to shoot two free throws He - or she - knows That if he - or she - makes both shots, his - or her - team wins That if he - or she - makes one shot the game is tied goes to OT And he - or she - knows too that That if he - or she - misses both shots his - or her - team loses and that he - or she - will be the goat. When the shooter steps to the line, two headlines compete for priority: "Blank Hero in Team B Last Minute Win" Or "Blank's Failure Costs Team B The game." You are on Team B. And you are a good free throw shooter. Do you want to be the one shooting the foul shots? Or would you rather have one of your teammates go to the line? The person most likely to make the shots Is someone who has the confidence that he/she knows what he/she is doing. The confidence That he/she has prepared for this moment The confidence That if he/she does what he/she is supposed to do he/she will most likely succeed Now, let's move away from the basketball court - in fact away from the world of sports. And imagine instead, that we are faced with a decision Of the moral or ethical type - "Should we do something? or Should we not do it?" Do you and I have the confidence First: That what God wants us to do or not do is the right thing? and Second: that we can do and we will do what God wants us to do - even if it goes against some of our basic human instincts Like avoiding: pain and death? Like avoiding : Serious social, political, and economic consequences? In answering those questions it might be helpful to reflect on our baptisms particularly the vows we take and the commitments we make It should be easy to reflect on those at this time For in the year 2012, I baptized 12 people in this sanctuary During those baptisms, one of the promises - the commitments - that we make (and which we make again at confirmation) is That we accept the freedom and power that God gives us To resist evil, injustice, and oppression In whatever forms they present themselves. And so I ask you and I ask myself whether During the same year as those 12 baptisms, did you and I encounter any evil, injustice, or oppression? If we did, did we resist it? Or did we look the other way because we lacked sufficient confidence in God to risk the consequences of resisting? In other words, do we really have confidence in God? The God who sent his son The God to whom we made those baptismal commitments Let's look at an example to which we can all relate. This example requires three more questions. First: Did anyone feel slighted, insulted, or unfairly treated at any time this year? It might have been deliberate and it might have been a mistake It might have been an accident and it might have been unknowing But, however it occurred, I'd be surprised to find that any of us didn't have that reaction at least once in the last twelve months Following up on that is a second and more important question: Have we yet forgiven the person or persons who treated us that way? Or have we so lacked confidence in God That we have chosen to dwell on or be petty about the hurt Rather than forgive the hurter as Christ told us to? And finally, does the way we have handled these situation reflect that we believe God knows better than we do or that we believe that we know better than God does? t Remember the words that we prayed at the beginning of the service when we were called to worship by the 27th psalm. They are what we say we believe In that psalm We proclaimed that God is our light and our salvation We announced that God is the stronghold of our lives And that because of that, there is no one of whom to be afraid We asserted that we believe that we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Did we mean those things? Or did we just read those words because they were put in front of us? We all say we love God But do we have confidence in God and in God's word To do what we know his followers are expected to do Even when our human instincts tell us to do otherwise? So far in this Lenten season. We have been warned of the potentially terrible nature of the Day of the Lord; We have been told that if we repent our wrongdoing, there is hope that God will relent; We have seen our sins go up in flames And converted to ashes so light as to no longer be A heavy enough burden to weigh us down and prevent us from serving God? We have received assurance that we will be saved by trusting God. And so today we pause to ask whether we believe all that And whether we have so much confidence in God That we are willing to act in ways that demonstrate that trust. Confidence is not a word we often use in church We tend to use faith far more often But using the more secular word "confidence" It prevents us from cheating in our use of "faith." Paul addressed confidence in his letter to the Philippians He addressed it not by questions, as I have but by an explanation which concludes with a pep talk. [3:17 - 4:1] Paul, who so often in his letters admits his own imperfections Calls on us to imitate him As he imitates God. Paul who suffered health problems, beatings, ridicule and incarceration Still tells us to imitate him Paul who had every reason to question God about those afflictions Tells us to have confidence in God A confidence that will enable us to make the hard decisions. In doing so, he calls on us to "stand firm in the Lord ..." And he offers us a human example of someone who has confidence in Christ. Wouldn't it be neat if you and I took this season of the year To be sure that we are people who have stood firm In our trust and confidence in God And in leading our lives accordingly? Then we can call on others to imitate us.