Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright.
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And, somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout,

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

 

Let’s talk baseball.  You all know the game.  Pitcher, catcher, batter, fielders, base players, etc.  Nine innings.  3 Balls.  2 Strikes, Foul ball,  You’re Out!. And all that.  The purpose of a baseball contest is to see which team (of two) can bring the most players ‘home’, thus scoring one point for each person, beating the other team.  A lot of people go to baseball games, the average which takes about 2.5 hours.  The better a team is, the more people go watch it play.  Yogi Berra, a former catcher for the NY Yankees, once said however…”If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop them.”  (You might have to read that twice to catch his humor.)  Of course, in the movie, Field of Dreams, was the saying (of a new ballpark) “Build it and they will come.” 

 

Now, let’s talk the Bible.  You all know the game.  God, Jesus, the Red Sea, prophets, lions’ dens, etc.  Ten Commandments, 12 tribes, 10 virgins, sin, Repent!. And all that.  The purpose of the Bible is to afford the opportunity for as many people as possible to go ‘home’ to Heaven, thus scoring one more for God, beating satan.  A lot of people go church to hear words from the Bible, the average which takes about 2.5 hours (including the fellowship, of course!!!).  The ‘better’ a church is, the more people go to it.  Yogi Berra, a forme….oh yeah, you know that part…. once said “If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.” (Course, he was talking about trying to be as good a player as someone else, but I would suggest this phrase would be good for us about imitating Jesus.).  And, of course, in the movie, The Ten Commandments, was the saying “So let it be written, So let it be done."

 

There.  See the similarities?  J  I mentioned Yogi Berra (a coupla times) above.  Known for his quick wit and wry sayings, he was once quoted as such: “If the world were perfect, it wouldn’t be.”  Not sure to what he was referring at the time, however, it is so appropriate as related to our spiritual associations with God, our church, and the world around us.  If the world WAS perfect, why would there BE a god of any kind?  No, I believe God created man imperfectly, on purpose.  God allowed evil to enter our world through man and woman, but for precisely what purpose, I am at a loss of words.  But we know we are not perfect. We never will be able to imitate Jesus, but we can do our best to copy his behavior and attempt to follow his commands.  And we will remain imperfect; nonetheless Paul tells the Corinthian church members to “aim for perfection’, knowing full well they will never actually achieve it until death. (See 2nd Cor 13:11)

 

A batter in the professional leagues of baseball is doing extremely well if he gets a hit just 1/4th of the time.  That’s only 25% perfect.  We, as struggling Christians, can probably expect just about the same in our spiritual walk here on earth.  Baseball team managers don’t fire players for only achieving 25%; God won’t fire us.  Yogi also said “We made too many wrong mistakes.”  He was talking about the time his team lost the 1960 Series to Pittsburgh, but that saying also applies to us almost every single day.  Paul told the folks in Rome “"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” (see Romans 4:7).  Even though we are imperfect, even though our ‘batting average’ is far from 100 percent, even though we make too many wrong mistakes, the love of Christ for us covers us. 

 

A temple was built for God by one of the wisest men of all times, Solomon.  (Read about it in 1st Kings).  And when it was completed, everybody came.  It was the central (only) real place of worship.  Sins were forgiven there by God after the offerings of blood and monies.  Similar to people worshipping their favorite home baseball team each week during the Spring, Summer and Fall, people worshipped the Lord each week at the glorious Temple of the Lord built by Solomon.  Today, our places of worship are far less ‘glorious’ than the magnificent structure used in Solomon’s days.  Christians flow to various structures to worship God, from parks to homes to office buildings to separate church buildings.  As unglorious as they may be, and although some of these places were built for other reasons, people still go to them.  So, build ‘anything’, and a group of Christian will come to worship.

 

Our Bible is our playbook.  No, it doesn’t have RBIs (that is Runs Batted In for all of you non-baseballers), errors made by players, scores of games, or even rules about infield flies.  But, it does have GII (that would be, God Inspired Information), sins made by man, tallies of disciples as the church grew, and rules about EVERYTHING.  Baseball players need to know the rules of a game, for obvious reasons.  You can’t have an organized game where a runner goes from 1st to 3rd directly in front of the pitcher’s mound on his way back to the home plate.  In the same way, people cannot get to Heaven by alternate routes.  There is only one.  (see John 14:6)  Because the rules in the Bible WERE written, so let it be done.

 

Another Yogi-ism----“It’s déjà vu all over again.” ----- but this time I will finish the stanza:

 

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright.
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And, somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout,

But there is no joy in Mudville--

mighty Casey has struck out.