The day of resurrection is only five days away when the faithful will gather in the sanctuary in Arlington, TX to hear the word of life, “Play ball!” I don’t doubt there will be in attendance a good number whose hope has less to do with what happens on Sunday and more to do with the Ranger's season that begins Monday afternoon at The Ballpark. Perhaps they are most to be pitied, except for Cub fans, of course. Don’t get me wrong, the only opening day I’ve missed since 1994 was the year it fell on Good Friday which just goes to show how little Holy Week matters to MLB. But then we are living in the post-Christian era and not because we are in the end times but because in changing times the church forgot to remain the same. By that I mean to remember that the Good News was always simple and meant to be free of unnecessary encumbrances (like laws about food and festivals and circumcision?) lest the Gospel be held in bondage to human tradition. The Good news is Christ died and was raised from the dead so that the world should not be pitied for hoping in something less, something that cannot resolve the question of our opening day that leads inevitably to our closing day. Born into this world without being consulted, some will face it sooner than others but in the end as my seminary professor, Walter Bouman, liked to say, “The death rate is still one per person.” The Gospel begins and ends with what Jesus for the world did on a Friday afternoon, dying every death, for us, ahead of us so that death would not be the last thing to be said about anyone. If death is not the last thing to be said then life can be lived without the fear associated with one’s inevitable end and that is where we have a choice. Not a choice to turn Jesus being raised into a system of reward and punishment that depends on getting a ticket as hard to come by as box seats on Opening Day, but a choice to live this life for others as Jesus did, trusting that in the end God was and is and will be all in all. “Play ball!”
I can relate to this. I am SO frustrated with HEB ISD at the moment! They decided to have their make up days on Friday and Sat! I cannot believe that we've had a teacher workday and Spring Break since it snowed, but HEB decides to make it up on one of the holiest days of the year and then diminishes Easter, by making it a 6 day week. I for see that I have two sick kids on Sat. It is bad enough that they want them to go on Friday, but I refuse to send them on Sat. What can they do to me?
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