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On Sunday mornings, I always try to remind myself that each person who worships with us will have just finished living a week. This may seem like such an obvious fact that it might even be pointless. Yet, it is an important reminder to me because it helps me to remember that each of us faces our own challenges and difficulties during a week’s worth of living. Those challenges and difficulties are not always evident when we greet one another on Sunday morning, even though our minds may be unable to think of anything else. In the same way, I also try to remind myself that each person who comes to the sanctuary on Sunday morning will depart to live a new week. Again, this is an important reminder for me because each new day or week brings its own situations that have to be addressed, resolved or at least attended to. These two reminders serve to keep me aware of the everyday reality that the burdens some of us bear and the obstacles some of us face may be greater than I ever could have imagined.
I use those two reminders as one of the ways I prepare for worship and preaching. I do not use them to prepare for watching college basketball. Perhaps, I should. If you follow Tennessee men’s basketball, you have by now probably heard the rest of the Chris Lofton story.
As a freshman, Chris averaged 13 points per game. As a sophomore, he averaged 17 points per game. As a junior, he averaged almost 21 points per game. The season that just ended in March was Chris’s senior season, his last one as a Vol. Before it started, I was sure that he would build on previous years of experience and do better than he had ever done.
As the season got underway, something seemed to be missing from Chris’s game. He was not scoring like he had done in previous years. The newspapers and the radio talk shows discussed the situation at length. Most Chris Lofton fans were hesitant to say that he was not playing as well as he had in his earlier years. I know I did not want to admit that. My thought was that there were more players on the team now who were capable of scoring and that Chris did not have to carry as much of the load. Some fans/critics were not so kind. Anyway you looked at it, something just did not seem to be quite right.
Chris had gotten off to slow starts before; maybe he would catch fire and be back to his old self. He did have one of his best games against Kentucky in Rupp Arena. Maybe that was all it took to get Chris going. He always seemed to perform well when playing in front of his native Kentuckians. He finished the year having averaged just over 15 points per game. Even though that average was enough for him to lead the team in scoring, it still seemed to be somehow less than was expected of Chris Lofton’s senior year.
Then the news broke. Chris Lofton had cancer. In the middle of the senior year of an amazing college basketball career, the star player had cancer. Who knew? Practically know one knew. His coaches, the trainer, his parents, a close friend or two; but not many others new the real reason Chris seemed to be off his game. That was because he refused to tell the public what he was going through. While people were questioning his ability and criticizing his performance, he would not allow the real reason for diminished output to be made public. He did not want his disease to be a distraction or an excuse.
Questioning someone’s actions, behavior or performance is something that is easy for us to do as human beings. We can do it without even thinking about it most of the time. The problem with doing that is we rarely have all the facts and we seldom know what that person has gone through, is going through, or will go through in the days ahead. The Good News of the Gospel is that no matter what we have faced, are facing, or will face, the grace and acceptance of Jesus Christ are always there for us. The radical thing about the grace that Jesus offers to us is that He does know all the facts, all the circumstances, all the good choices we have made and all the bad decisions; and His arms are always open to us.
Joy and Peace,
Ed
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