A View From the Sidelines
Bob Williams
I hope you're all having a great Summer. I know I am. But as much as I am enjoying it, I am already seeing signs that Fall is on the way. Strawberry season is over and we're picking blueberries. The snapper blue fish are starting to run in the Thames. And, the other day I saw one of the true signs that Fall cannot be far away when I saw an advertisement telling me that now was the time to get seasons tickets for the 06-07 UCONN Huskies football season. For those of you who don't know it, the site is www.uconnhuskies.com. Get there and get the good seats if you still can.
This morning, I'm going to ask you to extend your imaginations a little bit into that time of the year as a way of exploring out scripture text. It's not 80 degrees outside, it's 40. Imagine that we are standing on the sidelines of a football game to give the play-by-play....
Scene 1 -
The team nearest us is standing together huddled around the coach. Suddenly they give a great cheer and the team runs to the sideline benches as the coach trots out onto the field by himself. You go over to a 250 lb guard and ask, “What's going on?”
“Oh, coach is going to play today.”
“All by himself.”
“Sure, why not? He has more experience than any of us. We've got a lot of rookies that make mistakes on the plays. Anyway, coach gets paid better than any of us. We're here to support him.”
Bewildered, we watch as the opposing team kicks off. The coach catches the ball. He tries to run upfield, but is buried under eleven opposing players and is carried off the field, unconscious......
***** Scene 2 *****
Now let's look at another scene, another day, another football field.....
Realizing that they all need to play to win, the team is huddled on the field. They huddle and huddle and huddle. The referee calls a penalty for delay-of-game and moves the ball back five yards. Still the team huddles, huddles, and huddles. The referee calls another penalty. The coach calls for a time-out and brings the quarterback to the sidelines.
“What's going on out there,” he asks.
“Coach!” replies the quarterback. “ This is a great huddle! These guys are a great bunch, and we're talking about some really neat play ideas.”
The coach says, “But why don't you get up on the line and play?”
“Why should we? This is the most fun we've ever had as a team. Beside that, if we play we might get hurt. No one ever got hurt in a huddle!”
He jogs out onto the field, calls the team into the huddle. We watch aghast as the referees call penalty after penalty and slowly walk the ball back to the opposing team's goal line.
“Ridiculous,” you say. “No football team would ever do those things.” But how about the church? Aren't these pictures of how many of us view the church?
The first is a picture of what I will call the minister-centered church. In this church the minister is expected to do the preaching, praying, witnessing and visiting because he or she is better trained than the rest of us and – we might say to ourselves – that's what she's paid for, isn't it. We might help on occasion - bring a friend on “bring a friend” Sunday or serve at the soup-kitchen every now and again. But we always do so with the understanding that we are volunteers and have our limits. Then, when pastors are overworked and burnt out, we wonder what was wrong with them.
The second picture is a picture of the fellowship-centered church. In these churches, people love each other and get together and have great fellowship every Sunday – maybe even on Wednesday nights or Friday before work. It's warm and safe inside. Everyone looks forward to coming and leaves refreshed and invigorated. But, aside from that, nothing much is going on.
There are other kinds of churches, I'm sure you can think of some – perhaps they are centered on a particular member or individual member who runs the show. Perhaps all of their energy is focused some internal conflict or central problem. It doesn't matter, like our two football examples, they are living as less than a church, and their members, less than Christ calls them to be.
Our scripture this morning, from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, paints a different picture. Last week Pastor Mark talked about the basis for our coming here. We come here in order to know and draw close to Jesus Christ.
Our text this morning goes one step further saying that we come together so that as we know Christ, as we love Christ, that together we will become more and more like Christ. Listen again to the last portion of our text....
And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
The picture he paints is of a group of people growing together. Each of us is growing individually: becoming more like Christ. All of us are growing together: doing the work of Christ to reclaim a lost world. Like a football team, we have different abilities and assignments but a common goal.
Keeping that analogy of a football team, there are a few points which will, I believe, summarize our scripture for today. The first is this:
1 – Listen to the coach ; but you've got to play the game.
By coach I mean the pastor, the evangelist, the teacher, whoever it is that you look to as the spiritual leader in given circumstances. In our case it might be Pastor Mark, or one of the Elders or Deacons. Maybe it's the person leading the small group bible study you are attending. You know who they are. Our scripture lists several areas in which some people are gifted: prophets, pastors, teachers... these are gifts, but not the only ones. It says that these gifts are for the equipping of the saints for ministry. You and I, all of us, we're those saints that are supposed to be ministering to the world. As we go about our daily lives at work, in the office, at the gym, around the picnic table with friends, wherver we may be, we each encounter people who need the healing, loving touch of Jesus Christ and it is our job to be Jesus hands and feet, his voice, for their benefit. It can be scary. It's rough out there, and, yes, we might make mistakes. We might get hurt. But that's where we belong: ministering to a sin-sick world. Pastors can help direct us to areas where we might best serve. Teachers might help us access training that will make us better to able to serve. But ultimately, it is us, the lay people, who must do the work. So we do need to listen to the coach, the pastor; but each of has has got to play the game.
2 – Play your position – nobody else can.
I think you know what this means. Our scripture, and many others, stress the diversity of gifts that Christ has given. We all have different gifts which are needed in different circumstances, at different times. All of us need to exercise those gifts for the church to be whole.
There are two sides to this. First, each of us needs to do his or her job and not look to others to do it. On a football field, if the offensive tackle is expecting the quarterback to do his job, the team is not going to do well. Neither will the church do well if those of you with the gift of hospitality are looking for the teachers to do your job.
The flip side of that is that we don't need to do somebody else's job. OK, maybe you aren't comfortable with evangelism but have the gift of mercy. Well, don't sit around gnashing your teeth because you're not an evangelist. Go show mercy.
Maybe you aren't really good with children but are a whiz at carpentry. Don't feel guilty that you aren't a Sunday School teacher. Instead, take your carpentry skills and use them for Christ.
Whatever you do, play your position. Nobody else can.
3 - Without the game, the huddle is meaningless.
Bringing it back to our scripture, without a 7-day-a-week ministry our Sunday worship services are empty and meaningless. There are opportunities for ministry here within the walls of St. Andrew,and I would be wrong to suggest that there isn't some way in which each of us needs to contribute to maintaining and building up of this body. But we need to keep in mind that this is just the huddle. This is where we get prepared, built up and patched up for ministry which is each of our full-time calling.
Even if we spend 8 hours a week here at church or in Bible study or meetings, we still spend another 160 hours a week somewhere else. And that is where the game is really played: at work or volunteer position, at home or at the grocery store, wherever life may take us. These are the places where we are called to be salt and light, Christ's hands, feet and voice.
So there you have it, my view from the sidelines, what Ephesians 4:1-13 has to say to us:
1 – Listen to the coach ; but you've got to play the game.
2 - Play your position – nobody else can.
3 - Without the game, the huddle is meaningless.
Amen
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church,
Web Site: SAPC-CT.HOME.ATT.NET
Office Email: SAPC-CT@ATT.NET
"Permission to use is granted provided use is not for publication."