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 from the world of Sports.
Now, about a year
ago, Sidney Crosby got hurt. He's the Pittsburgh Penguins superstar
and Team Canada Olympic hero, a highly skilled skater, shooter and
passer. But in two games in a row last year, he took hard hits to the
head. The result was a concussion severe enough that he was out of
NHL action for about 10 months.
It all reminded me
of another superstar player for the Penguins, whose return from
injury inspired his team. Mario Lemieux had a great career (up
there with Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe), although it was a bit
plagued toward the end by back trouble.
But in 1992, his
Pittsburgh Penguins were the defending Stanley Cup champs. In game 2
of the second round of the playoffs, against the New York Rangers,
Adam Graves of the Rangers slashed Super Mario, and broke his hand.
While Lemieux often would play hurt, this injury, like Sidney
Crosby's, was more serious and he was expected to be out for a few
weeks.
In his absence,
the Penguins defeated the Rangers 4 games to 2, but it was harder and
the games were closer than you'd expect given the differences in the
teams.
To everyone's
surprise, Lemieux missed only 5 games. He missed the rest of the
Rangers series and the first game in the semi-finals against the
Boston Bruins. But he returned to the ice for game 2 against the
Bruins. And what a return! Lemieux scored twice and added an assist
as the Penguins won 5-2.
The team was
inspired, and went on to sweep the Bruins to advance to the Stanley
Cup finals. In the finals, they continued to roll, and swept the
Chicago Blackhawks 4 games to none, to repeat as champions.
Back-to-back winners! Lemieux, for his inspiring and dominant play,
won the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP.
Crosby and Lemieux
both had impressive and inspiring returns.
You know,
sometimes we need to return, too. The way we live, the decisions we
make, the things we do or choose not to do, lead us farther and
farther away from God and from those closest to us. We stop paying
attention to God, or praying or reading the Bible or worshiping at
church. We do things that drive a wedge between ourselves and our
friends or family.
God calls us to
come back, to return. That's the true meaning of repent, to turn
around, and return to God. In Isaiah 55 (an awesome chapter of the
Bible, you should read it if you are not familiar with it!) the
prophet says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him
while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evil man
his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.” Or in Zechariah chapter
1, “'Return to me,' says the Lord, 'and I will return to you.”
What you will find
as you return to God is that he has been there all along, eagerly
waiting for you to turn back to him, and acknowledge and follow him.
And as you return to God, and get right with God again, you will find
that you can again be close with those you love, that the wedge or
the gap that separated you is now gone. Thanks be to God.
For St Patrick's
Church, I'm Steve Page.
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