Volume
10 Week 42 October 17, 2004
Go
Cardinals? Go Jesus!
Is
This Heaven Or Just Iowa? Some Thoughts On A Night At The Ballpark!
In the classic baseball film, "Field of Dreams," and old time ballplayer come back o life asks the Kevin Costner character, "Is this heaven?" Costner, looking across the diamond to the corn fields beyond says, "No. This is Iowa."
We got to attend the Cardinal game Wednesday night and shout out at the thrilling 10 - 7 victory over the Astros. Thursday morning our son Brad led chapel at Lutheran High and suggested to the students that the cheering crowds at the national youth gathering in Orlando was a foretaste of the celebration of nations when the Lord Jesus returns.
Sitting high in the stands Wednesday and seeing the joyous crowd, I couldn't help but think also of that glorious day when all the saints, countless thousands and millions from every generation and corner of the globe will lift voices in song to Jesus.
I'm not saying Busch Stadium was heaven. It was more like Iowa. But it made me stop and think. What do you think?
Kinda like heaven. These Cardinal games are quite a celebration. The screaming, cheering and rooting are unlike anything I've experienced anywhere. Thunder sticks and homer hankies formed a wave of activity that expressed the joy of the crowd at ever base hit and run scored by the beloved home town team.
And this crowd really loves their heroes. In our section, when Albert Pujols stepped up to bat, the crowd cheered, "MVP! MVP! MVP!"
I can't wait for the day hen Jesus Christ comes on the clouds with all of the angels and "steps to the plate" before the adoring crowd who has known his love. Albert has done a lot for us, bringing us joy. How much more has Jesus done for us, bringing love and life and hope and salvation. Albert certainly makes us smile. How much more does Jesus fill us with a joy unmeasured.
Everything good we experience in this life is a gift from our Savior. And the best is yet to come. One day he will bring us into the eternal kingdom, a brand new heaven and a brand new earth. He will dress us with brand new bodies, full of life and energy that will never fail. Will we cheer for our hero? The crowd at Busch will sound like the squeak of a field mouse in comparison!
Kinda not like heaven. On the other hand, the ball game was not like eternity with Jesus at all. For one thing, I know Albert, but he doesn't know me from the guy in the bleachers at Fenway Park.
Not so with Jesus. While ballplayers understandably do all they can to avoid the onslaught of the adoring crowds, Jesus will always be near. he knows me better than I know myself, and on the day I meet him, he'll call me by name and a friendship I have with him by the Spirit and in faith will be face to face.
It would be cool to have Albert Pujols sidle up to me and say, "Hola Darrell!" in front of my friends. I'd have something to shout about. That's not going to happen. (And I'm a big fan!)
It's going to happen when Jesus comes. Much better than a rip to the stadium
Food!
Kinda like heaven. We love to take snacks into the ballpark. At our house, we try to be disciplined shoppers and buy what healthy, but the exception is a trip to see the Cardinals. We really loaded up on the junk food for the game Wednesday. Salted peanuts in the shell, Twizzlers (very berry!), a pre-Halloween bag of Twix bars and the jumbo re-sealable pack of Raisinettes. What a feast!
One of the biblical description of the Lord's eternal kingdom is that of a banquet. The miraculous feeding of the crowds was just one of our Lord's ways of preparing us for the greater feast to come. All of our favorite foods, wine flowing from the hills and never the hint of hunger or want are all images of what we will experience when the Lord returns.
The
best foods, the perfect family reunion, the best friends, and the very best
host. What a feast that will be!
Kinda
not like heaven. Our ballpark feast,
on the other hand, was kinda not like the eternal feast. It wasn't very good for us, and left me, at
least, feeling a bit groggy the next morning.
Crowd!
Kinda like heaven. I don't normally go seeking huge crowds to get lost in, but I'm always drawn to the Busch Stadium crowd. First of all, I always go with at least part of my family, and Wednesday night all of us were there. Baseball games have always been a special time for our family to be together. Since our children became teens, family time has been hard to find, but we could always meet at the game.
And the Cardinal game environment seems to help perfect strangers become instant friends. You can strike up a conversation with just about anybody and have something in common. It's a great crowd!
I look forward to the family atmosphere we'll share in the presence of the Lord. Everyone will be family. There will be no strangers in heaven!
Kinda
not like heaven. And maybe that's
where the ballpark is kinda not like eternity.
While people are cordial and friendly and glad to talk about the
Redbirds, the closeness doesn't go much farther. After the game, it's back to our own lives
and the people we'd talk to at the park, we walk right past on the street the
next day.
Heaven on Earth?
In the Church of our Lord Jesus, we get little glimpses of eternity. My dream for our congregation would be that here, it our little crowd, you we get a regular chance to celebrate, a taste of a good meal, and the blessing of being part of a great crowd!
Our times of worship are not as raucous as those at the ballpark. They shouldn't be, because they are far more profound and holy than watching a ball fly through the air. We gather to celebrate the grace of God, a far more momentous event for any of us than a game winning homer. We humbly bow before the Creator and rejoice at his goodness, at the good gift of life and the good gift of salvation through the free forgiveness of all of our sins! So we sing and we adore him. And that's a real celebration!
Our potluck suppers and snacks at ChristCare Group or Men's Club and Guild meetings might not compare with the feast at the Stadium Club, but there is something wonderful about the saints gathering to break bread.
But nothing does compare with the presence of our Savior himself in the sacramental gift of his body and blood in holy communion, a foretaste of the feast to come. We are royalty at the banquet hosted by the King of Kings! How good is he to us?
And we're a great crowd. The word "church" literally means "called ones." We believe that the assembly gathered here has been gathered here at the invitation of Jesus.
It's
a great crowd. I'm glad you're a part of
the family. Take time to get to know
someone new at Mount Calvary today.
We're going to be spending a lot of time together!