| Welcome to the First Baptist Church of Norwich 239 West Main Street Norwich, Connecticut Phone: 860-889-0369 |
Cal's Pastoral Epistles
"It's A Team Thing"
August 26, 2009
The day after the big trade was made, I was reading the Norwich Bulletin
account of what happened. It said Billy Wagner and his 385 career saves
were coming to Boston with the hopes that he could bolster a very strong
Red Sox bullpen down the stretch run.
It sounded like a great move. The only problem was the fact that Boston
already had one of the best closers in the game in the person of Jonathan
Papelbon. The newspaper reported that Papelbon wasn't very receptive to
the trade talks at first. Who could blame him? No one would get excited
about the fact that your bosses wanted to bring in someone who could end
up taking your job.
Give Papelbon credit thought, because he thought about it and then did an
about face. He called Billy Wagner. He told him how excited he was about
the trade. He welcomed him and they talked about winning a championship
together.
I thought this was a great example of an individual putting ego and
personal goals aside and putting the team first. It isn't done very often
today. The world we live in encourages us to think about ourselves over
others. As a result, even the church has fallen prey to this philosophy. It is
often filled with folks who think only about themselves and not about the
team. Of course that doesn't happen in your church or mine!
It isn't something new. The Apostle Paul talked about this in his letter to
the church in Corinth. He tells them, and us, that we are the body of Christ
and each of us has a role to play. Some are like the feet. Others are like the
ears or the eyes. Then he goes on to tell us that to be effective, we must
each put aside our egos and work together for the good of the whole.
I don't know anything about Papelbon's faith but I think we can learn from
his example. We need to work together if we want to give God the glory.
TEAMS win championships, not individuals. And so it is with the church.
In order to be effective in this world, we must learn to work together.
Believe it or not, it always begins with you and me.
So what do you say? Let's come together and share God's love in tangible
ways this Fall. Get involved in your church and find ways to work with
others to build a better community that will reflect God's love for all people.
In doing so, we will all come away winners.
God Bless. See you in church. Cal
August 26, 2009
The day after the big trade was made, I was reading the Norwich Bulletin
account of what happened. It said Billy Wagner and his 385 career saves
were coming to Boston with the hopes that he could bolster a very strong
Red Sox bullpen down the stretch run.
It sounded like a great move. The only problem was the fact that Boston
already had one of the best closers in the game in the person of Jonathan
Papelbon. The newspaper reported that Papelbon wasn't very receptive to
the trade talks at first. Who could blame him? No one would get excited
about the fact that your bosses wanted to bring in someone who could end
up taking your job.
Give Papelbon credit thought, because he thought about it and then did an
about face. He called Billy Wagner. He told him how excited he was about
the trade. He welcomed him and they talked about winning a championship
together.
I thought this was a great example of an individual putting ego and
personal goals aside and putting the team first. It isn't done very often
today. The world we live in encourages us to think about ourselves over
others. As a result, even the church has fallen prey to this philosophy. It is
often filled with folks who think only about themselves and not about the
team. Of course that doesn't happen in your church or mine!
It isn't something new. The Apostle Paul talked about this in his letter to
the church in Corinth. He tells them, and us, that we are the body of Christ
and each of us has a role to play. Some are like the feet. Others are like the
ears or the eyes. Then he goes on to tell us that to be effective, we must
each put aside our egos and work together for the good of the whole.
I don't know anything about Papelbon's faith but I think we can learn from
his example. We need to work together if we want to give God the glory.
TEAMS win championships, not individuals. And so it is with the church.
In order to be effective in this world, we must learn to work together.
Believe it or not, it always begins with you and me.
So what do you say? Let's come together and share God's love in tangible
ways this Fall. Get involved in your church and find ways to work with
others to build a better community that will reflect God's love for all people.
In doing so, we will all come away winners.
God Bless. See you in church. Cal
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |