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Hello St. John’s Family,
The quadrennial event that draws interest and excitement from sports enthusiasts across the world is now underway, as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad are held in Paris, France. As my children were growing up, the Olympics were always a big deal. Perhaps it was the advertising; perhaps it was seeing athletes from countries all over the world come together to compete in events we don’t always see (when else would you ever watch fencing, badminton, curling, or luge!); perhaps it was simply different, family-friendly programming we could all agree on. Whatever the reason, the Olympics were a big draw in the Leight household.
This year, though, I’ve watched less than 15 minutes of Olympic programming in the week since the first events were held. Between the busyness of our schedules and lack of interest, we just haven’t tuned in. Yet I did hear of some potential “controversy” that I found quite interesting: Steve Kerr, the coach of the Men’s Basketball Team, has faced significant questions over his use of players. Specifically, Jayson Tatum, the star of the Boston Celtics team who just won the NBA Championship and then signed a record-breaking $314 million contract, sat the bench for the entire first game of the Olympics. Joel Embiid, the ‘76er’s star who has been an NBA MVP, sat the entire second game. How can superstars with multimillion dollar contracts ride the bench?!? Many in the media wondered about the wisdom of those decisions.
Yesterday, when Kerr was asked at length about his approach, he said this: "The NBA is so popular worldwide, and the regular season is kind of a soap opera. And so we understand that, and social media takes over and everything becomes so dramatic. And I think we need to give these guys more credit. They're here to win a gold medal. The beauty of the Olympics is none of that crap matters. And I know everyone's going to write about it, but none of that crap matters. We're just trying to win every game and win a gold medal, and it's an incredibly pure feeling -- and the guys are committed to each other, and they're not going to worry about any of that."
I found it very refreshing to read that quote. While somewhat crass, it was clear that there is one singular focus for the coaches of this team: to win a gold medal. Stats and playing time and highlights are afterthoughts; maximizing the talent available to best enable the team to win the game at hand is the sole focus. If a particular matchup isn’t good, that player will sit. In my mind, that’s the way it should be, if a team truly seeks to come together to achieve an overarching goal – one that represents far more than any individual accolades players will achieve.
As I thought about that, I recalled the guidance the Apostle Paul gave to the church in Corinth: Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it (I Corinthians 9:24). Committing one’s life to Christ means that our singular focus is faithfulness to Christ. That means, at times, sacrificing our wants, our accolades and personal achievements, our leisure time, even our resources to see that Christ’s will is achieved. There will be trying moments; ones where the situation at hand may not play out in the way we desired. Yet maintaining our focus on and commitment to Christ’s desires will ultimately lead to goodness and blessing far beyond anything we can comprehend.
I hope you’ll join me in worship this Sunday, as we conclude our series on Sacred Spaces by considering spaces that – at first glance – may not seem all that sacred. Yet when we seek to serve Christ by serving others, we see how car rides, mundane visits, even bedside moments together are sacred. In my sermon, I’ll share a powerful story from our St. John’s Family when this occurred. Check out Matthew 25:31-40, then join me in worship on Sunday!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Brad
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