The Right Fielder

First Lesson: Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10
Responsive Reading: Psalm 19
Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 4: 14-21

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
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I was eleven years old and playing my first summer of Little League.  Here’s the thing that I must confess I was never a good baseball player. When batting lineups were made even though my dad was the coach, I would always bat last.    I would occasionally get on base, as my goal was to do whatever I possibly could not to swing the bat hoping that a pitcher couldn’t throw me strikes so that I may walk instead. I dreaded swinging the bat, as the main reason I wasn’t a good hitter is “I was afraid of the ball.” I would always flinch when it came my direction.

When it came to field assignments, I would always be placed in Right Field next to a seemingly fast center fielder; thereby I’d hardly ever see a ball hit in my direction the whole game where my lack of speed would be a factor. 

Well my first year of Little League, we had a good team.  We had a pitcher named Brant Larson who no one could get a hit off.  If Brant were allowed to pitch the whole game, we never would have lost.  But thanks to Brant, we made it far in the Little League playoffs against the best team in the league. 

Well as the game was entering the later innings, the game was hanging in the balance, my team had kids in position to score, and the last person I wanted to bat was coming to the plate! Me.  I had to stand in and face a pitcher with a game on the line with two outs in the inning.  I was going to have the swing the bat as the pitcher was good and unlikely to walk me.  So I see a pitch swing the bat, make contact, hit a liner over the infielder's heads.  We score! We go onto the win the game.  Sitting in my parents’ house in Lindstrom is the only game ball I ever received growing up for helping to win that Little League playoff game. 

I might have been the weakest player on the team, but my team on this day would not have won without me. 

The second story, Sir Michael Costa was one of the great orchestra conductors of the 19th Century[1].  Legend has it one day he was rehearsing with not only his orchestra but a great choir.  Midway through the session, the piccolo player stopped playing. Now the piccolo is the smallest of woodwind instruments (a half-size flute).  Now to the untrained musical ear in the midst of such a great chorus of sounds, no one would ever notice the piccolo’s absence.   Sir Michael immediately heard something to be off with the rehearsal. He immediately stopped everyone as he shouted out: “Where’s the piccolo? What happened to the piccolo[2]?’

As Michael Costa recognized it is indeed the piccolo player who is indispensable. According to the Apostle Paul within our lesson for Today from 1st Corinthians 12, it is much the same way within the Kingdom of God[3]. 
Here’s what you need to know about the Corinthian Church, it was a church of divided loyalties. Some were claiming to be followers of the church’s founder the Apostle Paul, whereas others proclaimed loyalty to the new preacher the charismatic Apollos, whereas the hardcore traditionalists declared their devotion to Christ’s disciple Peter[4].  So the Corinthians disagreed about preaching, worship, ethics, and belief matter in general.   But perhaps the most hot-button issue among the Corinthian church, in general, had to do with how they understood spiritual gifts[5].  The highest tension centered around speaking in tongues[6].  Basically, the holiest and most active members of the Corinthian Church believed that God had blessed them with a secret prayer language, which second-class believers did not possess. 

So how does Paul respond to the Corinthians back and forth: “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”

Why does diversity exist within the Body of Christ?  To strengthen the entire Body of Christ, no different than Sir Michael Costa thought that his musical piece would sound wrong without the piccolo.

It’s not an issue of which gifts are superior within the Body of Christ; the passage continues with Paul seeking to address how there is no such thing as inferior or superior gifts within the Christian Church[7].

Verse 22: “ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.”

The whole point of the Body of Christ is this.  It shows to the world what the Church can be when gathered.

Once upon a highway department truck pulled up alongside a city street[8].  The first worker climbs out of the truck and digs a hole between the street and sidewalk.  A few minutes later, a second worker gets out of the truck, filled the hole with dirt.  The procedure keeps getting repeated every few feet down the block. A senior woman watches this scene unfold and is confused by it all.  She then approaches one of the workers to ask: “What are you doing?”  The worker responded: “We’re on an urban renewal project?”  The woman shakes her head: “The street is way uglier than before, with all these dirt holes.” To which the worker responds: “Well you see, the man who plants the trees is out sick today[9].”

The following story showcases Paul’s point within our lesson about the problem of holes within the Body of Christ:

Verse 25: “so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

The ideal image of the Christian Church is when it ceases being a collection of individuals arguing over whose gifts are superior and instead becomes a Body seeking to proclaim the Grace of Christ to the entire world, even as the church might seem splintered into all sort of unique Church bodies.

While the issues that divide us retain importance, Paul says they should not be burdens in the end to the real mission of why we gather?

I talked this week to my friend Cody in Wisconsin; I was the best man in Cody’s wedding.  Cody is an active and faithful member of the Wisconsin Synod. The Wisconsin Synod is as conservative as other Lutheran bodies get when it comes to interacting with other Christians.   I’ve gone to church services in Cody’s church where I haven’t taken communion out of respect for their beliefs, and I’ve even visited the Wisconsin Synod seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. 

As I was talking to Cody, he was telling me about the Wisconsin Synod’s television program: Time of Grace Ministry with Pastor Mark Jeske. Pastor Jeske is among the most talented Lutheran preachers that I’ve ever heard.  Cody though remarked to me: “When you watch his show, they tend to downplay the WELS’ distinctive beliefs.” To which I responded: “The goal is to make the Lutheran faith accessible to a wider audience.”

The problem with too many Christians is that we make perfect the enemy of the good.  We go looking for a church that isn’t there to the detriment of the church that we’re truly called to be. 

God has given us some wonderful gifts: “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[d]? Do all interpret? 31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.”

Remember these greater gifts might not seem to be what they appear.  The year was 1981; President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr[10]. The President would be confined to a hospital bed for the next several weeks.  The government managed to keep functioning over these weeks, and little impact was felt daily for the average American.

 In 1986, a seemingly unrelated event took place in Philadelphia the garbage collectors went on strike for three-weeks during the hottest part of summer.  Trash would pile up, the city’s smell turned noxious, and a huge public health hazard became a reality.  Now at first glance, it would seem obvious who is more important the President of the United States or a random garbage collector.  Paul’s point though about the Body of Christ is that everyone’s gifts are needed for the good of the whole body. 

I’ve got a baseball sitting in my childhood bedroom that can tell you why.  Amen

[1] Higgins, Scott. “Sir Michael Costa.” Stories for Preaching. Web. Jan.22.2019. 
[2] Higgins, Scott. “Sir Michael Costa.” Stories for Preaching.
[3] 1st Corinthians 12:12-31a.
[4] 1 Corinthians 1:12. 
[5] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids, MI. 18.Jan.2016. Web. Jan.22.2019. 
[6] 1st Corinthians 14. 
[7] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[8] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[9] Mast, Stan. “1 Corinthians 12:12-31a.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[10] Parsons, David. “Body of Christ.” Sermon Illustrations. Web. Jan.22.2019.