Good morning, I'm the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay Ministerial.
This month, I'm
drawing our images of Christian faith and spirituality from the
wonderful and sometimes weird world of Sports.
1986: The Edmonton
Oilers are in the middle of their dynasty years, and have won the
past 2 Stanley Cups. Come playoff time, the mighty Oilers were
battling in the second round with their arch-rivals the Calgary
Flames. The teams knew each other well, and played each other tough.
So while the standings said it should have been an Edmonton
cake-walk, the series still came down to game 7.
The Flames struck
first, jumping out in fact to a 2-0 lead. But Edmonton would not be
denied, and netted a pair of third-period goals to tie things up. As
the clock ticked down, it looked like a sudden-death game 7 overtime
was likely.
With less than 6
minutes to play in the 2-2 game, Calgary dumped the puck into the
Oiler zone. Rookie defence-man Steve Smith retrieved the puck from
behind the net. Rather than carrying it out himself, Smith tried a
pass out to his defensive partner.
But disaster
struck! The pass hit the foot of Oiler goalie Grant Fuhr and bounced
backward, right into the Oiler net. Goal for Calgary! Since no
Calgary player had had anything to do with the goal, the officials
had a quick huddle and awarded credit for the goal to Flames forward
Perry Berezan. Even though he was nowhere near Smith or Fuhr, Berezan
was the closest Flame to the play.
The result of this
bizarre goal was that Calgary won the game 3-2 and sent the champion
Oilers home to practice their golf swings. It was a careless play for
Steve Smith, one that he would desperately like to have back. But he
could not take it back.
Like hockey, life
does not allow us to take things back or change the past. Sure, some
sports have instant-replay, but that is not changing the past, just
looking at it in slow-motion from a dozen different angles to
understand what really happened.
God wants us to
live our lives with care and attention, to get things right the first
time so that we won't wish we could change the past. According to one
of the Old Testament prophets, “This is what the Lord Almighty
says: 'Give careful thought to your ways.'” In other words, don't
be a reactor, ready to blow by reacting to things, but shape your
heart and your mind and your life according to how God would have you
live. Or the book of Ephesians in the New Testament tells us to “live
a life worthy of the calling you have receive;” and “Be imitators
of God;” and finally “Be very careful how you live, not as unwise
but as wise people.” Not so much a call to live thoughtfully as a
challenge to live intentionally and wisely.
But best of all is
this: while we can't change the past, we can forgive the past. No
matter how carefully and thoughtfully and wisely we try to live, we
mess up from time to time. But in God there is forgiveness. God's
forgiveness offered to us; our forgiveness offered to others who do
us wrong; and their forgiveness of us. You know, in some ways
forgiveness is even better. It means that, rather than an ability to
change the past, with forgiveness we have the ability to change the
future! By truly forgiving someone, that grudge or that hurt fades
into the past and we get to live a future without that pain or guilt
or anger. “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against
us.” Amen.
For St Patrick's
Church, I'm Steve Page.
No comments:
Post a Comment