I have to confess to you… I have been a life-long Cubs fan. Not a Cubs fanatic … but just a loyal Cubs fan. One who has said countless times, “Well, that’s it. We’ll just have to wait until next year.”
And next year comes … and the mantra’s just the same: “Wait until next year.” Managers showing great promise have come and gone. Players with amazing talent have been traded, gone out of the game into hiding, or just stuck around too long … long enough to be invited to be radio or TV color commentators.
But the Cubs, the guys in the blue hats with the plain, circular, red “C” play on.
But here’s what it means to be a fan to me… not a fanatic… but a fan … at least in the era I grew up in. I knew the line-up, but probably not all the player’s batting averages. I knew which pitchers had the best won-lost records, but not their Earned Run Averages, or ERA’s. I knew the emotional make-up of the current manager … and I had my favorite players.
Now, growing up as kid in Chicago with limited means, meant my exposure to the Cubs was mostly limited to watching the games on Channel 9, WGN television. Since the Cubs games were all day-games back then (no lights at Wrigley Field) and WGN is an independently owned TV station, most Cubs games were telecast, since they didn’t have to compete for air-time with the soaps.
When I got older and could navigate on my own to Wrigley Field via the Ravenswood El … well, that opened up Holy Ground.
I’d arrive, usually with a friend, at least an hour before the game. Get tickets at the box office and then walk around and take in all the fresh air and smells of the field. And then I’d just sit back and be amazed how much different Wrigley looked in color … than on my Black and White TV at home.
And then some of the players would come out, throw the ball around… do a little batting practice … all building up to the excitement of the start of the game itself.
And then… the game… was the game! No between inning fun and games nonsense. And we all sang our hearts out with Jack Brickhouse, Harry Carry and others at the 7th inning stretch: “Take me out to the ball game!”
Leave early? Never. Stuck around until the last pitch … and then lined up like one of a thousand other sardines trying to squeeze into a packed El-car.
Now that was being a fan.
Today. I go watch the Bats here in Louisville I don’t know the roster. I don’t know the pitchers. I don’t know the division they’re in. I seldom see the first pitch… I’m often innings late before I get to the game.
Why do I go to Bat’s games? It’s a fun thing to do with family and/or friends. For me, today, it has nothing to do with being a fan.
And so … the question all this is leading up to on this Reformation Sunday is: How big of a fan of God are you? Are you a true fan? Or are you just here on Sundays because it’s a nice thing to do with family and/or friends?
Now, before you “boo” me out of the pulpit. Think honestly about our little analogy we’ve been talking about. What does your approach toward Worshiping God really look like?
People in leadership here at Our Savior are asking for more preaching about Stewardship. You know what Stewardship is? Being a true fan… a true fan of God.
Stewardship people are often informed by the money-counting people regarding the level of stewardship in the congregation. Guess what the money-counting people have been telling the stewardship people as of late?? As my brother used to say, two guesses… and the first one doesn’t count.
There are other indicators as well. The fact that our batting average when it comes to acolytes being in on assignment at worship as scheduled is somewhere around 500. It should easily be 1000.
How about the fact that we sometimes don’t have an usher crew at late service? That we’re short Sunday School teachers? That the weeds and bushes run rampant on our grounds until someone on the staff goes out and knocks them down or trims them up?
And probably the thing that grieves the heart of a pastor most is that God deserves more respect than the Cubs … Yet, how many seats in worship are sometimes not occupied until after the third page in the worship folder?
Now Pastor don’t say those kinds of things… they’ll turn off our visitors!
The first thing our visitors see is the state of our landscaping and our building repair. Most of our visitors come early enough to be seated before the service starts in order not to be conspicuous when the bell rings…
What does it say to them when sometimes half the Church files in after the Invocation? Do these visitors really feel they are in the presence of true Fans of God? Or is this just a nice place for people to go with family and friends?
We don’t do batting averages and ERA’s in church … things to talk about during the week between games. But we do have Portals of Prayer. We do offer Advent and Lenten Devotionals … but how many are picked up?... and used?
We publish the Scripture readings for the coming week in the announcement folders. Yet, how many people take a look at them, like we might take a look at the roster for an up coming game?
How many of us have a Cubs sticker, or the equivalent? Wear team-wear? Many of us do … But, how many of us openly identify with Christ in a similar way? Or how many of us might mention where we go to church … as often as we refer to our favorite sports team in casual conversation?
People!... We’re talking about being fans here!! Fans of God. And fans of where we go to worship Him. Here at Our Savior!
Again, before you boo me out of the pulpit … This being a fan of God is where the Reformation was all heading.
To the people of Reformation times, God was no god to be a fan of. God was seen as a terrible judge. One, who through the church, demanded an annual… complete… recounting of all your sins.
God who demanded your money. And if you had no money then, He would take your children … that they might take vows as monks or nuns so that you might take some years off those you owed Him in purgatory.
The Devil back then was seen as very real. Not that he isn’t … but the whole concept of Christ having conquered him was not understood or taught. Yes, in a way, the Devil was used to keep people in line.
With the Reformation, that all changed. Grace became something which was free … not something bought or earned. Christ’s death on the Cross went from being an awful specter of God’s Judgment, which, in some ways, was still going to be met out on you … to the Cross being seen as the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for mankind.
Worship especially changed. Before the Reformation, the service was done in Latin. It might have been intelligible to some, but to most it was a rote exercise … simply a hole that had to be faithfully punched each week to keep God at bay.
Luther’s Dueche Messe put the Mass, the Devine service with Holy Communion, into the common vernacular of the people, the German Language. People could actually intellectually respond throughout the liturgy. Great Hymns and music were composed to reflect the correct understanding of Sin and Grace … many of which are still in use today.
And all that … is our wonderful inheritance as Children of the Reformation!
Now, in our day … and even in our church in the last couple of years … some major changes in worship have come that I think would have thrilled Martin Luther to his core.
Taking worship music and putting even that into the vernacular of the people … and using instruments with their own unique sounds that cannot be copied by a pipe organ … are now part of making a joyful noise unto the Lord.
And the man, Martin Luther, who took advantage of the recent invention of the printing press in his time … would be beside himself to see the how the printed word can appear before us on our walls so that people can look up … and sing out.
Today, people can sit in the pew and watch a child being Baptized as if they were actually standing at the font … and they can go home with a video copy of the entire service on a DVD.
So, on this day … we thank God for our inheritance from the Reformation. We thank Him for the progress the church has made over the past almost 500 years, and even in our day, how the technology unheard of twenty years ago has enhanced our worship. What a place God has made this!!!
So. Are you a fan? You know… history and technology are not what makes fans. A fan is one who has a personal relationship with something … who personally identifies him/or herself with that something….
Something in their life being important to the point of being the most important thing in their lives.
God says, “I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God.” God permits no rivals, He loves us that much. Truth is, He is a BIG fan of you!
So. Are you a fan of God?
God grant you His Spirit so all of us can answer that question with an enthusiastic: YES, I AM! with our words … and with a life-style and a worship devotion that broadcasts the same message.