Rejoice in the Cubs Always -- FPC sermon excerpt
This week contains a significant 100th anniversary.
On October 14, 1908, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series by defeating the Detroit Tigers. The score was 2-0 in the fifth and final game of the series. This was their second World Championship win in a row.
It was also their last.
For 100 years, the Cubs have been in a World Series drought. Our country has changed radically over the past century, but the failure of the Cubbies to win a championship has been a depressing constant in American life. When they last won, Henry Ford was producing his first Model T. Orville Wright was demonstrating his flying machine to the U.S. Army. The First World War was still years away. Being “online” meant hanging your clothes out to dry.
The Cubs have suffered the longest dry spell between championships in modern sports history. No one else in Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, or the National Basketball Association comes close. In fact, the other three major sports leagues were not even in existence when the Cubs last won the World Series.
This year, it looked like they might go all the way. Throughout the regular season, they looked like the best team in the National League. But then, in the divisional series, they played three of their worst games all year. The Los Angeles Dodgers played their three best, and knocked the Cubbies out of the pennant race.
So the dry spell continues. And yet, despite this long drought, Chicago fans remain faithful. They rejoice in the Cubs always.
It is this same kind of persistent faithfulness that Paul is calling the Christians of Philippi to show when he writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4). Notice that Paul says nothing about winning and losing, nothing about being champions of the faith. Instead, his focus is on rejoicing in the closeness of Jesus Christ, and on practicing the quality of gentleness — which in the Greek New Testament is a Christ-like characteristic that includes generosity toward others.
Like long-suffering Cubs fans, the Philippians are not supposed to obsess over wins and losses. Instead, they are to find joy in being a fan of Jesus, while behaving in a Christ-like way.
Rejoice in the Lord. Always.
On October 14, 1908, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series by defeating the Detroit Tigers. The score was 2-0 in the fifth and final game of the series. This was their second World Championship win in a row.
It was also their last.
For 100 years, the Cubs have been in a World Series drought. Our country has changed radically over the past century, but the failure of the Cubbies to win a championship has been a depressing constant in American life. When they last won, Henry Ford was producing his first Model T. Orville Wright was demonstrating his flying machine to the U.S. Army. The First World War was still years away. Being “online” meant hanging your clothes out to dry.
The Cubs have suffered the longest dry spell between championships in modern sports history. No one else in Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, or the National Basketball Association comes close. In fact, the other three major sports leagues were not even in existence when the Cubs last won the World Series.
This year, it looked like they might go all the way. Throughout the regular season, they looked like the best team in the National League. But then, in the divisional series, they played three of their worst games all year. The Los Angeles Dodgers played their three best, and knocked the Cubbies out of the pennant race.
So the dry spell continues. And yet, despite this long drought, Chicago fans remain faithful. They rejoice in the Cubs always.
It is this same kind of persistent faithfulness that Paul is calling the Christians of Philippi to show when he writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4). Notice that Paul says nothing about winning and losing, nothing about being champions of the faith. Instead, his focus is on rejoicing in the closeness of Jesus Christ, and on practicing the quality of gentleness — which in the Greek New Testament is a Christ-like characteristic that includes generosity toward others.
Like long-suffering Cubs fans, the Philippians are not supposed to obsess over wins and losses. Instead, they are to find joy in being a fan of Jesus, while behaving in a Christ-like way.
Rejoice in the Lord. Always.
posted by Henry Brinton | 9:54 AM
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