GOD'S WINNING TEAM

I grew up playing team sports.  I loved being part of a team of people who worked together under the direction of one coach who called all the shots, and with a group of people who had the same goal; to play well and to win.  We were all individuals but our unity came together when we were on the field or on the court.  We were as different as could be but when we played the game we were one.

I carried that team concept into my work at Camp, in the churches I worked at, and in my various jobs.  I miss being part of a team, working together with one message and mission.  The world has become a mass of individuals.  It has been difficult, if not impossible, to find a place that even has or knows its message or mission.  Everybody has their own thing going, in the midst of others who have their own thing going, and everybody wants things their way.  That is not a team.  I think that’s why there are so many divisions and ruptures in groups these days; we don’t become unified in our message and mission so they get muddied and confusing.  People are no longer wanting and willing to become loyal to a cause or a coach anymore.  There is a lack of leadership and a lack of team sensibility, so the problems of the world continue to grow.  Everybody wants to do their own thing, have there own way, and when they are thwarted they throw in their gloves and stop playing.  That doesn’t work on a ball field and it certainly won’t work in a needy world.  Nobody wins and everybody loses.

So what is the answer?  I have a Biblical Christian worldview so I would say looking to God and to the Bible for the answer.  I would say that Jesus shows us a pattern to follow that just might work if allowed to.  It’s not a new plan; it’s been in existence since the beginning of time and found its fulfillment two thousand plus years ago.  I suggest we accept Jesus’ invitation to “Come and see”, and to follow him as he revels his pattern of becoming a team, under a good coach, digesting the play book, and knowing what our united message and mission is.  Let the team be developed, let’s practice and work out the plays together as one, and let the game begin.