Hello,
Those who know me, know that I am a baseball fan. I played a lot of baseball as a kid, and I enjoy watching the match-play of strategy and skill. If football and hockey are high energy video games, then baseball, to me, is more akin to an intriguing game of chess.
So, when the opening games finally began, I was to be found sitting on my couch in front of my TV. Of course, that is the only place to watch baseball games as of now, due to the coronavirus restrictions. No fans at the games. Some of the teams have filled some of the sections with cardboard cutouts of fans, fans of course which make no noise.
But that is not to say that there is no fan-sound. In many of the stadiums, fan noise is being pumped in. I don’t know how they do it, but they seem to be able to recreate the noise that would be made if the fans were there. The increase in volume when a ball is hit. The clapping in sync with the organ, and even the boo-ing of the opposing coach when he comes out to argue.
If you are watching on TV, you know that the noise is not real, but if you are listening on the radio, you would never know the difference. And listening to the radio is what I was doing yesterday as I was driving in my car. The Pirate announcers sounded as if they were right there at the game, but they were not. They were in a studio in Pittsburgh. The stadium in St. Louis sounded like it was a sellout crowd, but it was empty. Everything that came across the radio waves was so realistic, that when I took in a deep breath, I could almost smell the peanuts and popcorn that I would eat at the games when I was a kid.
It sounded so real…..but it wasn’t.
But that is the way things often are in this world that we live. We don’t hear guns and tanks, and we think there is peace, but it just war taking a nap. We see people of all races living in a neighborhood and we think we see love, but we don’t, it is just tolerance. We hear money jingling in our bank accounts, and we think we have security, but it really is just a screen door as we face the future. The world offers a lot of things that seem so real, but in truth, they are not.
But with God, things are different. They are real. They are what they say they are. When silence surrounds us, we experience peace, true peace, because as Psalm 46 says that our Mighty Fortress God says to us, “Be still, and know that I am God.” When we see folks of all ages and races kneeling side by side at the altar to receive communion, we experience love, real love, because the one who came in unconditional love to give his life for the world is at working to unite people in his cross-conquered love. When we hear the vault of heaven resound in joy, we experience security, real security, as the one who danced his way out of the grave takes hold of us and gathers us in that dance.
One of the things that I am finding to be true during these Covid days is the unveiling of the things of this world so that we might see them for what they really are….not really real. Simultaneously, I am finding these Covid days to clear the vision of my eyes to see the things of God for what they really are….really real.
Have a great day.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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