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A Season of Hope |
2005-02-18 |
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This is the season of hope for baseball fans. Spring Training has begun! Surely this will be the year when my favorite team, the Cubs, makes it to the World Series for the first time since 1945, and wins it for the first time since 1908! It is also tournament time. The Milbank gymnasts are conference and region champions for the first time since the 1980's and will hopefullly do well at the state meet. The wrestling team is also heading to regions and on to state. Boys and Girls basketball both have strong teams going into districts. It is fun and exciting to root for a winning team. We all experienced that in November when the volleyball team won its first state championship. Anything can happen. Could that include more championships for Milbank, and even for the Cubs?
These are only games we are talking about, of course. Recently we witnessed a great victory over terrorism. The people of Iraq turned out in huge numbers despite the threat of violence to vote in the first free election in that country in over fifty years. But the forces of evil continue to rage against Iraqi freedom with terrorist attacks. Closer to home many among us pray for victory over illness or brokenness in our lives. Ancient wisdom reminds us that all victory is fleeting. As soon as one enemy is vanquished, another inevitably takes its place. Even in sports it seems that there is not much time to savor the victory of a championship before the work begins to defend it. Nobody wins every year.
During Lent we ponder this conflict with evil as we follow Jesus to Jerusalem. Jesus' disciples all thought that Jesus was leading them to victory over their enemies, and that they would help him rule in the kingdom of God. The championship was in their grasp! But Jesus' journey to Jerusalem ended on the cross and the defeat of death and the grave. The disciples' notions of victory were proved to be completely wrong. Jesus defeated evil and death by dying. The great reversal is that God wins by seeming to lose. Jesus was dead and buried. All hope was gone. But the game was not really over. Jesus rose from the tomb, and won the victory over death for all of us.
Will the Bulldogs bring home another championship or two in the next few weeks? Will the Cubs finally win the World Series? Will we defeat terrorism in Iraq and around the world? Will we find cures for all the diseases that afflict us? Perhaps. Victory in those contests is uncertain, and doesn't last. The only question that matters is: Has God defeated the power of evil and death in Jesus' death and resurrection? That is one victory that is sure, and that makes all the other defeats bearable.
This is the season of hope for disciples of the crucified and risen Lord. WE WIN! |
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Summer: starting Memorial Day Weekend
9:00 am Worship Service KMSD Broadcast
10:00 am Coffee and Fellowship
WOW (Worship on Wednesday) 6:30 pm
Winter: starting after Labor Day
8:30 am Worship Service KMSD Broadcast
9:35 am Educational Hour
9:35 am Coffee and Fellowship
10:45 am Worship Service
WOW (Worship on Wednesday) 6:30 pm |
Click Here
401 South Flynn Drive
Milbank SD 57252
605.432.5566 |
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