Last night I went to two events The first was an event to honor veterans in our community. My oldest Gideon and his six grade classmates had each been tasked with interviewing a veteran they know and then preparing a display to tell about their service. The veterans and the community came and discussed what they saw. And as with any event focused on veterans there was a message floating around all the displays. These men and women risked their life for the causes of freedom and justice. While they returned home, others who took the same risk did not escape with their life.
The second event I went to was a meeting about the possibility of our recreation league kids traveling to other cities to play basketball this winter. I listened as the organizer spoke about the need for this addition to the program. If later in life (high school) they were going to have a competitive even victorious team in Ellsworth, the kids needed more court time now to learn the fundamentals of the game. He also suggested that more practice time was essential to achieving this goal.
The veterans event truly did make one consider the causes considered worthy of ultimate sacrifice. If people were willing to give their life and did, surely their causes are worthy of claiming as our own. There is no more powerful confession one can make for any cause than laying down their life for that cause.
The man leading the basketball meeting was of course right. If the goal is to have a really good basketball team in high school, the best way to ensure it is lots of practice and lots of playing as early on in one’s life as possible.
However as I was traveling home after these events, I must admit that I was thinking more about the Church than the causes of freedom, justice, and the state championship basketball team.
We in the Church in America rarely stop to remember those who paid and are paying the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of the Gospel. The reality of martyrdom for the faith has been so far removed from us for so long that we find it hard to think of stories of such sacrifice as anything more than holy lore. We must repent of this. We need to talk more about those who have died and those that are dying for the faith. We should allow their ultimate confession of Christ to inspire our own. We need to talk not just about the saints of old in terms of their lives but also in terms of the way in which many lost their lives literally in order to gain it. And we need to be aware of the faithful ones in other parts of the world who suffer all, even death rather than leaving behind the confession of the Christ. I know as a pastor I do not highlight these people of old and present nearly enough. I repent.
And secondly, we must take to heart the wisdom which suggests that if we intend to have people prepared to “play well†later in life, practice and time on the court as early in life as possible is key. We cannot any longer act surprised when our children fall away from the faith after we have failed to spend time teaching them the fundamentals of the faith daily in our homes. We cannot be surprised when they stop going to church after we have set the example of making things other than church a priority on the Lord’s Day. If we truly want out children to be prepared to live out the faith as they grow, we must dedicate time each day to teach the fundamentals of the faith and time each week to gather to Christ with his people. We must repent.
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy. Amen.
