CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH
The Rev. Fred Weimert September 20, 2009
“Bragging Rights”
I don’t
feel as rushed
this
week
as
I did last week…
Hope
you don’t either…
Last Sunday I noticed
that when I went down stairs for
Lemonade after worship,
a
lot of you hadn’t stayed,
which
was fine
because there were more cookies for
me.
And it was also all right
because it was the Raven’s first
game of the season.
So, I don’t feel as rushed today,
Because the Raven’s
aren’t playing four o’clock…
they are out
west this week, in
so
suppose I can take my time.
I
understand, football season is upon us,
and it is cause for great excitement,
at least for those who
enjoy football.
Others may be living with dread.
There are games and recaps of games
on one ESPN channel or
another
24 hours a
day…
every
day.
The other morning,
I was coming home after my walk, at
about 7:00
and a neighbor stopped
me,
Normally he
and I talk about golf,
But
Carl was all excited that morning.
He
said, “Fred, do you like college
football?”
I
said , “Yeah.”
Then
he ran back into his house
“I’ve got a move you’ve got to see…
It’s
great.
When Harvard beat Yale 29-29.”
I
almost called him back,
because
I was never really big on
Ivy
League football…
Big
10,
Big
12,
SEC…
now
those guys play football,
But
the Ivy League,
they
should be rowing,
or
fencing
or something like that.
By then Carl had
reemerged from the house
with the DVD
in his hand…
He
said ”It’s a great movie.
I
saw it down at the
and
I had to get a copy.
It’s
about a game
back
in 1968…
Harvard
and Yale
they
were both undefeated that year,
Calvin Hill played for Yale…
Tommy Lee Jones was on the Harvard
team.
But
it’s not just about football
It
talks about all the turmoil in the country
the
assassinations of Dr. King
Bobby Kennedy
The riots in
and all the campus protests.
Here take it and see
for yourself.”
I told Carl it was the fall
after my senior year in college,
and it
sounded interesting,
so
I took the movie.
And it was
very good…
it was kind of a
documentary production…
You would
see some plays from the game…
which
was, at first, quite lopsided…
Yale
was up 21 to nothing.
and
then you would hear the players talk.
They talked to, and
about the Yale’s quarter back,
Brian
Dowling…
who
became Garry Trudeau’s character BD
in
his syndicated cartoon Doonesbury.
A player
talked about how Dowling hadn’t lost a game…
since
he had started playing football
in
7th grade.
They
interviewed a Harvard player
who
had interrupted his college
to
go fight with the Marines in
and
then they talked to another Harvard player
who
was a member of SDS…
Polar
opposites,
but members of this same team.
As the game wore on
you learned more and more about
these young men…
One
of the guys from Yale dated Merrill Streep.
Finally there was about a
minute and a half left in the game,
Harvard was
losing
13
to 29,
but
they had the ball on the Yale 25 yard…
And
you could hear the Yale side of the field shouting
“We’re number 1”
“We’re
number 1”
“We’re
number 1.”
Finally
that didn’t appear to adequately convey
all
their feelings…
so
the chant changed to…
“You’re number 2…
You’re
number 2…”
You’re
number 2…”
Which raised the Harvard
player’s ire…
but there
was only 1 minute and 20 seconds left
when
they scored a touch down…
and after
some contested officiating…
they
scored a 2 point conversion…
with 40
seconds left they recovered an onside kick…
and as time
ran out they scored a touchdown.
the
Harvard fans erupted.
As the game
can’t end without the opportunity
for
an extra point…
The
field was cleared
and
Harvard made a two point conversion
on
the same play they used before.
So
the game ended
in a tie, 29 to 29.
But in the
later interviews
one of the Harvard players said
“When I would run into one of those Yale players around
and
the game would be mentioned
it
always appeared to me,
that
they believed that they had lost.”
Football
can get the competitive juices flowing…
and as we all know
“winning isn’t everything…
it
is the only thing.”
and losing is like:
“Kissing your sister.”
And it does
give us such joy
to raise that chant…
We’re
number one!
Mark
9: 30-37
(This weeks reading begins
in much the same way
as
last week’s reading began.
With a premonition of Jesus’ death
and resurrection.
Mark
tells of this happening
on
three occasions.)
They went on from there
and passed through
He
did not want anyone to know it;
for he was teaching his disciples,
saying to them,
"The
Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands,
and
they will kill him,
and
three days after being killed,
he
will rise again."
But they did not understand what
he was saying
and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to
and when he was in the house
he
asked them,
"What
were you arguing about on the way?"
But they were silent,
for on the way they had argued
with
one another
who
was the greatest.
He sat down, called the twelve,
and said to them,
"Whoever
wants to be first
must
be last of all
and
servant of all."
Then he took a little child
and put it among them;
and
taking it in his arms,
he
said to them,
"Whoever
welcomes one such child
in
my name
welcomes
me,
and
whoever welcomes me
welcomes
not me
but
the one who sent me."
Here
ends the reading.
The
Disciples had argued on the way
about who was the greatest…
and Jesus ended the
conflict with the words…
"Whoever
wants to be first
must
be last of all
and
servant of all."
but what does that mean to us?
When I was
out in
I saw two of my cousins…
One of them, George,
went to Harvard…
I think that
game in the movie
took place during his sophomore
year.
George, and his family, live
simply.
he paints
houses
and he writes and performs music,
music
like James Taylor,
Pete Seger, Peter Paul & Mary
folk music…
music
full of string instruments…
silly fun…
and also serious concerns.
One of the sad things
about the trip,
is that
George’s wife, Lisa,
who
sang and wrote music with him
had died two months before we got
there…
I
never got to meet Lisa,
But, George gave me a
copy of a CD she made
not long
before her death.
On
it was a song which addressed her feelings
about
the emotions in the nation
which surround
the issue of illegal immigration…
and,
because the issue begins
at
the song
has a south west kind of sound.
But
for me
the
song addressed something…
far greater than immigration…
It
may well address what it means to be
last
of all
and
servant of all."
Listen to it now
see
if you don’t think it gives
an
interesting perspective on God’s grace:
(You
can see the words
on a white sheet in the bulletin.
I
have also given possible derivations
for
the Spanish words.)
Mojados in the Promised Land
by Lisa Atkinson & Jim Buklo, Connie’s Songbird
We are all mojados in
the promised land
We’ll cross that
bright river today
All our backs will be
wet when we finally stand
At the throne of God
someday
Nobody’s thirsty in
the promised land
Coyote can’t steal
your soul
Buzzards don’t glide
over desert sands
There is no border
patrol
We are all mojados in
the promised land
We’ll cross that
bright river today
All our backs will be
wet when we finally stand
At the throne of God
someday
There are no ‘migra’
at the pearly gates
No fake ID’s to buy
They don’t take your
money and leave you to fate
You can’t get caught
in a lie
We are all mojados in
the promised land
We’ll cross that bright
river today
All our backs will be
wet when we finally stand
At the throne of God
someday
You can’t get deported
from the promised land
You cross over there
you are home
It’s our place to
build and our place to stand
Heaven to earth
kingdom come.
We are all mojados in
the promised land
We’ll cross that
bright river today
All our backs will be
wet when we finally stand
At the throne of God
someday
Spanish:
Mojados from mojar–wet
migra from migracion--migrate
(The
CD Connie’s Songbird
can
be heard and purchased at
www.cdbaby.com, or www.atkinsonkincheloe.com, or www.amazon.com)
We are all
mojados in the promised land…
The word
that we pronounce ‘Hebrew’…
is an English rendering of the
Semitic word ‘Abru…
which means to cross
over,
or the ones who crossed
over.
It was
probably a name given to them by the Canaanites.
And
it may have been a derogative term…
like
wet backs…
“mojados”
illegal’s…
Something
to define
a people who really didn’t belong
here.
Interestingly Jewish
people
have taken that term, Hebrew,
to
identify themselves…
It helps them to remember that
defining moment
when
they crossed over the
No one can
truly speak of the world to come …
However,
that doesn’t keep us from talking about it…
or about our preparing for it here…
but, when we talk, we do so with the
sense of entitlement…
we deserve it,
because of
our faith…
because of
our works…
But it is only by God’s
grace that we
who have crossed over
into the promised land
now or finally…
through the waters of baptism…
have any hope…
any reason for pride…
we
are not number one…
we
are by God’s grace of that One…
who
walked with all people on this earth
with humility…
and has called us to walk
in similar fashion…
as
God’s servants.
Jesus called us to receive little
children
and
all children…
as
if we were receiving God…
for
indeed they/we all
bear
God’s image.
So
may we be content to live
as
mojados…
strangers
and sojourners…
appreciating
daily the grace of God,
in
and around us now,
and
hopefully
in our eternal future.
Amen.