Parallel Lines

On October 15th this week we began the PACT Soccer Academy for the 7th year! This year we have 50 registrations, the highest number we've ever had. What's exciting is the big batch of the very youngest ones joining for the first time.

It's a simple program, easy to run and lot of fun for the kids and the coaches. We have seen a number develop into very good players. We could do more days with more kids but of course I have work commitments and bills to pay just like everyone else. It has helped keep me sane throughout the time and the rewards are better than money.

It was a happy moment this week as I looked across the school field at all the kids running here, there and everywhere and the parents watching curiously from the sidelines. It felt like the very first year all over again as if we're starting a new 7 year cycle. 

Labour Weekend October 2008

I will always remember the first year 2008 because 10 days after starting I broke my leg in 2 places playing in a tournament at Mt Mauganui during labour weekend. I lay on the hospital bed on the Saturday night wondering how the Academy was going to continue. We'd done a lot of work to get it started and this was the worst setback we could have had. It is not easy demonstrating skills while sitting in a chair, using crutches as pointers ; )
 

In fact, it would have failed but for a number of people who stepped into the gap to do the coaching, leaving me just to do preparation and administration. I have learned by that experience that for something to succeed in the long run it needs the support of the community. Since PACT are a Christian community group, the success is really down to their good people and their good work in our community. 
 
Why am I telling you this? For a few reasons. 

1. Firstly, working for PACT is a pleasure. The business world takes a lot out of you and pays you fairly for that. But doing the Soccer Academy gives me back more than I give. 

Matthew 11:28-29

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

2. I know that the success does not depend on me, that something greater is happening that I'm privileged to be a part of and contribute to. And of course I am very fortunate that my employers allow me the time to do it!

Psalm 127:1

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

3. We can't measure success in financial terms. There are a few people working full time in our communities who are largely unrecognised and prefer it that way. They gain more in satisfaction from helping others than they would earn in pay working in the business world. If you are able to get involved then I encourage you to do so!

Matthew 6:3-4

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

4. We hear a lot in the media about the success of individuals. It might be the World's way but we do not succeed at the Lord's work as individuals. We need the Body of Christ to be working together. We are all gifted differently but working together as one body!

Ephesians 4:16

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

There is more to this story than I have time for now. When my leg was broken, it opened the door to a parallel life that runs alongside my ordinary one. Sometime I'm going to pass through the door and leave this one behind but for now they run in parallel.


Notes from 1st Session October 15th 2008

 

The 2nd Communion

When we take Communion, we often think of the very first one which Jesus initiated at the Last Supper. This was BEFORE the Cross so we feel sad. This is ok of course to reflect on our sin, the ways we have betrayed him, his suffering and death for our sins. 

In Luke 24, we find the report of what happened on the day of Jesus resurrection. Just 3 days after the 1st Communion, we find the 2nd Communion recorded. This passage is AFTER the Cross and there is a distinct difference between the 2 communions making the 1st one (sorrow) only a preparation for the 2nd one (joy).

The passage I want to focus on begins at v13 with two followers on a long walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus. 

v13 The journey was 7 miles - 11km.  Given that a average person can walk at 5km per hour, depending on the conditions maybe that would take 2-4 hours. Probably they set out after lunch as later it tells us they arrived just as it came to the evening.

As they are walking, Jesus joins them but they do not recognise him.  Jesus must have been bursting to tell them "Surprise!" but instead he plays along in the role of a stranger, it is quite amusing for him I think.

He can see they are sad so when he asks them what they are discussing, they express surprise that he hasn't heard the sad events of the last few days.

"What things?" he says as if winking to the audience.

v19 “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

They saw Jesus as only a man, a prophet. Is that how you see Jesus? 

v21 "We had hoped". They had faith but their hopes had been smashed to pieces. All their dreams had ended when Jesus died. But their emotions did not reflect the REALITY of the situation! God had made a promise which he had already delivered even if they didn't know it.

v27 "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself". Jesus kept referring to scripture to encourage them with the truth. In the darkest of nights, we need to remind ourselves of God's promises in scripture and hold on tight.

Finally they reached the end of their walk together. They felt encouraged. They wanted to hear more from the stranger so they invited him in for a meal.

v30-31  "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight..."

Suddenly their eyes were opened and they saw Jesus! This was the moment these 2 followers were transformed. Within an hour of eating this Communion, they were on their way back to Jerusalem to tell the 11 disciples the Good News.

I imagine them running back the entire 11km, the tiredness they had felt just before having gone and they were bursting with excitement instead.

There is a great transformation that takes place between the 1st and 2nd Communion. 

From hoping to knowing

From confusion to understanding

From fear and anxiety to faith and peace

From mystery to revelation

From darkness to light

From defeat to victory

We are no longer strangers but his friends.

I didn't include this in the Communion message but I remembered a passage from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" by CS Lewis, my favourite story when I was young!

 "At that moment they heard from behind them a loud noise—a great cracking, deafening noise as if a giant had broken a giant's plate.... The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.

"Who's done it?" cried Susan. "What does it mean? Is it more magic?"

"Yes!" said a great voice from behind their backs. "It is more magic." They looked round. There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.

"Oh, Aslan!" cried both the children, staring up at him, almost as much frightened as they were glad....

"But what does it all mean?" asked Susan when they were somewhat calmer.

"It means," said Aslan, "that though the Witch knew the Deep Magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward."