Good morning,
I'm the Rev'd Steven Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church. Our
devotional thoughts for the radio this month take their illustrations
from the world of Sports. Nowadays, professional sports are big
business. The players make millions, the teams and the leagues
billions.
With so much
money at stake, players and owners sometimes argue over how to split
the pot of dough, and strikes and lockouts happen. The NBA lost part
of last year's basketball season because of such a dispute. The year
before, the NFL teams and players almost lost games from a lockout.
In 2004-05, there was no Stanley Cup, because of an NHL dispute. Even
peaceful baseball has had its issues. The player strike of 1994 ended
the best Montreal Expos season ever. Some Expos fans think the strike
was a key nail in the Expos' coffin, leading to them moving to
Washington, DC.
A century ago,
there was a different kind of baseball strike. It involved just 1
team, and just 1 game. On May 15, 1912, Tigers star Ty Cobb, one of
the greatest hitters in history, got tired of the heckling from some
fans. Cobb climbed into the stands and attacked one of the worst
hecklers.
For that awful
action, the American League suspended Cobb for 10 days, and fined
him, too. His fellow Tigers thought that the punishment was
excessive, and they walked out to protest. All the players decided to
boycott the May 18th game in Philadelphia, against the
Athletics.
But, according
to the rules of the league, if Detroit did not play the game, they
would forfeit the game. The owners would face a serious fine. And
their franchise could be kicked out of the league. To make sure that
didn't happen, manager Hughie Jennings invited volunteers to come
down from the stands and try out for the team. Those chosen would go
to Philly and dress and play the game as Tigers.
Jennings got a
number of volunteers who responded to his invitation, and he chose 9
of them. He filled out the rest of his team with retired players and
with some of the team's scouts. Off they went to Pennsylvania.
Well, the game
was not a good one. The professional ball-players on the Athletics
team pounded the makeshift squad of volunteers and retirees. The game
finished 24-2 for Philadelphia. Thousands of fans felt so cheated
watching the replacements that they demanded that Philadelphia refund
their money.
The regular
Tigers returned for the next game, probably feeling they had made
their point. Ty Cobb rejoined them after his suspension, and baseball
continued as normal. Except for those 9 fans who could forever after
tell people that they had played for the Detroit Tigers! All because
they responded to the try-out invitation. Without that response, they
would not have been chosen.
It reminds me
of a parable Jesus told in Matthew 22. It was about a king who
invited people to the wedding banquet for his son. But everyone had
better things to do, none wanted to come. So he threw the doors wide
open and invited anyone! And people came, filling the hall. But when
the king saw someone hanging out near the buffet tables, not properly
dressed, someone more interested in the free food than in the wedding
of the prince, the king had him ejected.
The parable can
be a bit troubling. But part of its point is that we need to respond
to God's invitation. We are invited to join God's team. But that
means walking onto the field, in our baseball metaphor. Or dressing
up and attending the wedding, not just mooching, in our wedding
image. My prayer is that you will respond to God's invitation. God
longs to choose you for his team. God wants to put you on one of the
many local squads he has in town, called churches. Maybe the
Pineridge Rockies? Or the Adventist Angels? the Catholic Cardinals?
the United Padres? God is eagerly waiting for you to respond. Will
you join one of God's teams today? For the St Patrick's Giants, I'm
Steven Page.
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