Game 7

13 May posted by

Go Leafs Go

It’s game 7 tonight.  Go Leafs Go!

My family right now is going nuts.  My brother, a life long Leafs fan who has for years cheered a team that was floundering is beyond excited.  My Dad is feeling the same way.  Together they have tried desperately to make a fan out of my husband by making him watch every playoff game with them. Alvin claims he doesn’t care but bailed from a meeting at my son’s school tonight as he said to me ‘it’s Game 7′.  Leaf-mania is everywhere in my life from tiny leaf pajamas to constant iPhone updates.  It’s all we’re talking about and it’s kind of fun.

My brother came over today and we got to talking about [wait for it] the Leafs. He’s so excited about tonight and when I commented on how calm under pressure James Reimer seemed last night he said ‘It’s his faith. He’s Christian you know. You should blog about him.’ I quickly replied that I don’t blog about everyone who’s a Christian but then secretly went and looked the guy up. If my brother was saying his grace under fire was due to his faith, I had to know what people were talking about. What I found was really inspiring.

James Reimer said this about his faith “It’s a big reason why I’m calm out there,” he said. “I mean, I don’t have any fear of what’s going to happen. The way I see it, or tell myself, if I let in zero or six, it’s His call up there. It’s whatever He wants in my life. It helps to calm it down and put everything in perspective.“

This kind of faith in God with regards to his work and the outcome is inspiring. From what I’ve read, James Reimer works hard, really hard to maintain his skill level and focus. He is determined to be the best player he can be but in the end after all the work is done he knows that God is the one who brings him peace. He believes that what God wants is what will happen and that’s what matters to him. To some his thoughts may be silly.  They may see it as just a game that God wouldn’t care about while others may say it’s a fatalistic attitude, but I think it goes deeper than that.  The quote he has on the back of his helmet from Matthew 14:31 reflects that. It’s about trust, not doubt. It’s about faith and knowing that God is the one who gives you strength and is invested in you.

Isn’t this how we should all live our lives? Working hard to grow our talents and skills that we’ve been given and trusting that God will go with us to  guide us as we go. It’s not about us doing it all or God doing it all, it’s teamwork. It’s about relationship.

Imagine if we did this as a church? What would happen if we used our talents and skills but surrendered the outcome to God? It could be good, great even. We might see that it isn’t about us fixing things or making things possible but instead letting God bless that which God saw fit to bless while we work to bring light into the world however we know how.

Reading about James Reimer today gave me a few things to think about. It’s not either/or it’s both/and. It’s not enough for me to use my gifts, I have to trust that God will help me as I go. It isn’t enough for the church to plan for the future, we have to invite God to join in and direct us. Good thoughts to ponder over the coming weeks and months but for tonight I shall just say this…

Go Leafs Go!
 

 

 

1 Comment
Filed Under: Faith, Musings

Great things might happen.

20 Apr posted by

This weekend I’m preaching on Luke 24:36b-48 and I didn’t intend to.  I thought I would preach on 1 John but something kept calling me back to this passage of doubt and the disciples.  How they were scared and unsure when Jesus arrived.  How Jesus brought peace.  How he was patient with them in their uncertainty.  How he didn’t give up on them.  It spoke to me.

Jesus offered the disciples a tactile experience.  He allowed them to touch, to feel him.  He showed them how alive he was by eating and just being with them.  He calmed the chaos in simple ways.  He just was with them and brought them peace. This was his way of connecting to them after the resurrection.  It is so simple yet beautiful.

There’s so much we could learn from this.  He calmed the chaos by offering peace and just being there. As the church in transition we are living in a state of anxiety.  Anxious about what we should do, how we should act and what we are doing wrong, we find ourselves flailing looking for answers.  What we need to do is surrender control to God and just be.  We should be witnessing to the moments of grace that God has shown us.  We should be sharing the power of God in our own lives as individuals.

In our anxiety is feels like we’re trying to plan our way out of this mess.  We hope that with a powerpoint projector or some kind of fancy program people will see Jesus.  We believe if we find the next best thing they’ll realize the importance of Church.  Those things are great but they aren’t how Jesus did things.  If we look at Jesus’ example, he ministered through relationship.  Everything he did was about people and he didn’t have an agenda.  It was never about growing a church or keep one open.  He ministered and shared God’s love because he loved people and wanted them to know there was nothing God wouldn’t do to get into relationship with them.

That’s the best part of the Christian message isn’t it?  There’s nothing God wouldn’t do to get into relationship with you.  God loves us so much that he would die so that we could always be with him.  This kind of love is so incredible.  It’s so powerful.  It’s our story to tell and we should tell it.

We are witnesses to this great love.  We should share our individual stories of grace and the power of God in our lives.  If we let go of our anxiety and started to just share the story we would find ourselves in the communities in which we live.  We would meet people and discover who they are.  We would find out what the needs of the community were and we could begin to meet them.  There would be a sharing of lives, our stories and love would flow abundantly.  With no agenda beyond living the message of grace and love in the world, great things might happen.

It could be incredible if we just let go and lived.
It could be incredible if we just let go and trusted God.
Do you think it’s possible for us to ever let go and truly trust God?

2 Comments
Filed Under: Bible, Christianity, Faith, random church things most of you probably don't care about, Worship
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