Dear Friends,
This past week we celebrated what just might be my favorite day of the year, Opening Day! Opening Day is the first day of the new baseball season, the day when every team has the exact same chance of winning the World Series. I love Opening Day because it is a day full of possibilities. It doesn’t matter how bad your team was last year; on Opening Day the slate has been wiped clean and everybody gets a fresh start. On Opening Day, our Detroit Tigers stand as equals with every other team in baseball—even with the mighty Yankees. Opening Day is a day of hope.
Besides being a hopeless baseball romantic, I suppose I am drawn to the drama of Opening Day because it matches so much of what I think it means to be a follower of a Christ. In Christ, there are always new possibilities, always a chance to start over and begin again. In Christ, last season’s “record” is wiped clean, and just like an opening day every single one of us is equally a child of God. Being a follower of Christ means you are always a prisoner of hope.
There is no greater symbol of our Christian hope than the empty tomb of Easter. It is our “opening day,” the moment we realize that the stone has been rolled away and all that has stood in the way of this new life in Christ has been removed. Easter is this great reminder that God is always seeking to remove those barriers that keep us from becoming the people we were created to be. Easter is all about hope.
Let me just say that watching our Detroit Tigers play the Toronto Blue Jays did not disappoint. Jordan Zimmerman (a native of New Auburn, Wisconsin I’ll have you know) pitched a near perfect game, giving up only one hit in seven innings. In the bottom of the 10th, still locked in a scoreless tie, rookie left fielder Christin Stewart went home to give us the dramatic 2-0 win. And, at least for the day, my team stood atop of the American League standings.
I went to bed that night full of hope.
Easter is coming, my friends!
Grace and Peace,
