Isaiah
43:16-21
Psalm
126:1-6
Philippians 3:4b-14
John
12:1-8
A New Season
I spent a fair amount of
time away from home during the summers of my middle-school and high school
years. I would be off to summer camps. There would be church camp, YMCA camp, Space
Camp, band camp, baseball camp, and soccer camp. I have some fond memories from all these
camps - practical jokes played... This one time at band camp our counselor was
out of the cabin and we actually strapped all his sheets down and then hung his
bed from the wall of the cabin. It was
so funny. There were the awards that
were won. One year at church camp, my
cabin won the merit award - that means that we had the cleanest cabin. Our parents couldn't believe it. There were the
bits of relatively useless knowledge that we learned. For instance, I learned how to fix a Freon-loop
anomaly on the space shuttle at
Space Camp. I'm not sure where I'll ever
use this little bit of information ever again, but at least I know how. There were also those very useful bits of
information that are meaningful for a variety of disciplines. One of those tips came from a soccer camp I
attended. I went to "#1 Goalkeeper
Camp" the summer before my freshman year in high school. In addition to learning some great physical
training techniques, I also learned a lot of theory and mental aspects of being
a soccer goalkeeper. The insight that
resonated most with me was the saying, "Who you are and what you've done
doesn't matter when it's a new season."
This insight struck a chord with me.
It addressed two main types of players: those who had won championships
the season before and those who hadn't.
It was a reminder that we can't rest on our laurels, so to speak - in a
new season, the champions are in the same place as the team that came in
last. At the same time, there's hope for
the team that didn't do so well in past seasons. This hockey season, the Carolina Hurricanes,
our team that won the Stanley Cup - the league championship last season, is
struggling to even make it into the playoffs this year. But the Pittsburgh Penguins, who didn't even
make it into the playoffs last year are contenders to win this year's Stanley
Cup.
A new season, in many ways, is a new
start with new goals. In our reading
from Philippians this morning, the Apostle Paul talks about his "new
season" through Jesus Christ. Paul
tells us about his life as a Pharisee before his conversion. He tells us of his impeccable ethnic resume
as a Jew [Philippians 3:4-6]. His
parents were not only observant enough to make sure that he was circumcised
eight days after his birth, but were most definitely Hebrews. He was well educated in the Jewish
tradition. He was a Pharisee, a member
of a very devout sect of Jews who valued education and the strict adherence of
the law. Actually, Paul said he was
"blameless... as to righteousness under the law" [Philippians
4:6]. Paul was squared away, he was the
cream of the crop, he was a champion within the Jewish faith.
Then, Paul says something interesting
in the 7th verse of our reading. He
says, "Yet whatever gains I had, these I come to regard as loss because of
Christ" [Philippians 4:7]. What
does he mean by this? He just shared how
he had everything taken care of, but now all of a sudden these great things are
regarded as a loss? These things Paul
considers a loss because they concern his "last season." Paul's "new season" is a season in
Christ. That new season comes with the
promise of joining Christ in his death and his resurrection to eternal life
through faith. That's the "new
season" Paul sees himself in and invites others to join him in.
The interesting thing about new
seasons, is that they're not automatic, that is, just like "last
season," there are games that must be played and races that must be
run. The outcome of the season is not
automatic. A new start requires that one
advances off the starting line.
The joy of this "new season"
in Jesus Christ is that Christ has already won the victory - our promise is
first place. Yet, we live lives that are
in the process of becoming; we're going onto perfection, the perfect love of
God and neighbor. Although Christ has
already provided us the way, he also leaves the decision to follow him on the
way up to us. Christ has provided the
way for us to be perfected in love and Paul says that he presses "on to
make it my own," that is to be one with Christ in death and life [Philippians
Yet Paul does not claim to already
have arrived at perfection. Paul says,
"Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing
I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I
press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ
Jesus" [Philippians 3:13-14]. Paul
claims to be moving on to perfection in Jesus Christ. This is the race we run in this "new
season."
For baseball players a new season is
full of baseball games. For NASCAR
drivers, a new season is full of races.
But what is a new season comprised of for Christians? Our new season is full of the means of
grace. It's full of acts of piety and
acts of mercy. It's full of acts of love
for God and neighbor. These are the ways
in which we grow in love, the ways in which we're perfected by God's grace.
Our "new season" is a season
of daily prayer, of daily scripture study, of weekly if not daily worship, of
weekly if not daily hearing scripture read and expounded upon, and partaking of
frequent, preferably at least weekly, Holy Communion. These are the main ways in which we receive
God's sanctifying grace, the grace that moves us toward the perfect love of
God.
Our "new season" is also
full of acts of mercy, those acts that we participate in that show love for our
neighbors. In these acts, such as caring
for the outcasts of society, sharing our faith with non-Christians, and
providing for the hungry, we find God's grace that perfects us on our journey
to the perfect love of neighbor. A joy
that we have in this "new season" is the knowledge that even though
it's a long tough season, we will finish it with Christ's victory in our
faithful participation of his death and resurrection.
No matter where you feel you've
finished in the "last season," your life before Christ, the "new
season" with Christ is full of hope.
Where are you? I'd say that the
Apostle Paul was certainly a mature Christian, yet he was the first to admit
that he had not reached the finals of his "new season" with Christ [Philippians
As we move closer to Easter Sunday,
the great high-holy day of the Church where we celebrate the victory of
Christ's resurrection and our hope in it, let us examine our progress in our
"new season" with Christ.
Where in our lives can we step-up our game in prayer, scripture study,
worship, partaking of Holy Communion, or the acts of mercy where we show care
and love for our neighbor? This is the
season we're in now, the season of Christ's victory and our job as Christians
is to participate in this season to show the world that the Christ has won the
victory.
SDG