Does the Whole Team Count?
3 February 2021
Well, this Sunday’s the Superbowl. After worship, of course, many of you will put in your orders for chicken wings and pizza, rip open the salsa and chips, and call dibs on your favorite chair to watch the game.
I don’t really “have a dog in this hunt.” But, you’ve got to admit, the quarterback match-up is tantalizing. A 43-year-old versus a 25-year-old. Wily veteran faces newcomer stud.
Both wear Superbowl rings. Both are legendary in their own right. The young Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs enjoys a $450 million 10-year contract. (If you do the math, that is $2.8 million per game. That’s like me getting paid $1.7 per sermon.) Perhaps even more impressive is Tampa Bay Buccaneer Tom Brady. (Do you hear hisssssing right now?) Not only did Tom play for Michigan (“boo” says this Ohio State fan) as an undergrad, but he humiliated the Atlanta Falcons in 2017 when he engineered the greatest comeback in Superbowl history. Do you remember? Watching the game with a COS Gift Group, I left my host’s house at half-time slapping high fives over our inevitable victory. Yet all Atlanta was crying in humiliation by game’s end.
Tom Brady has made the Superbowl in 10 out of his 21 seasons, or 41% of the time! That’s crazy. Tom’s more likely to make it to the Superbowl than beloved Hank Aaron was getting a hit (30.5%), or a new business to last at least 10 years (35%), or one of my sermons staying under 15 minutes (?%). Tom is so popular in his first year with his new team in Tampa Bay that they’ve renamed the city TOMpa Bay.
Yet, despite the limelight shining on these two brilliant individual stars, we know the game will be a team effort. Each and every single player needs to fulfill their function for the team to win. Watch. A cornerback might slip and fall in coverage. A lineman is called for holding. A kicker misses a simple extra point. A player loses his cool and is penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. If one member on the team doesn’t “show up,” that can tilt the entire tenor of the game.
Same is true for us at COS or any Christian congregation. God refers to us in Scripture as “the body of Christ.” As Christians, while we certainly tell stories of individual disciples, far more often we were taught to think as a TEAM.
St. Paul explains it this way in Romans 5: “So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”
Here’s how Acts 2 describes the “team spirit” of the early church: “43 Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44 All who believed were together and had all things in common; . . . 46 Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home[k] and ate their food with glad and generous[l] hearts, 47 praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”
With the pandemic, it’s certainly harder for Team COS and all congregations to come together. But nevertheless, are YOU still playing your role?
- Are YOU still worshipping and activating God’s game plan for all of us on the Sabbath?
- Are YOU still connecting with faith friends in some type of small group where you both laugh and weep together?
- Are YOU still asking the Lord to position you each day where you can bless somebody in a small way?
Yes, cameras will follow Brady and Mahomes this Superbowl. But the real game is all over the field. Neither of those guys win without ALL of their teammates’ efforts. Same is true for every congregation. COS needs YOU to play YOUR special role designed by the Holy Spirit.
So thanks for playing and helping Team COS thrive.
Let us pray.
Dear God, help me to be ready today to play my role. Sometimes in these Covid days I don’t see many people and it feels that my actions really don’t count. But I know you say otherwise. Remind me that despite my distance from others, we nevertheless are knit together as your body of Christ. Keep motivating me to reach out to others. Help me be ready to “make the plays” each week that will help our team move forward with you.
In Christ,
Pastor Fritz