Playing Calvinball With God

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

May 2, 2010

Playing Calvinball With God

Acts 11:1-18

Volleyballs, basketballs, footballs,

soccer balls, softballs,

croquet balls, tennis balls:

balls of every shape and size;

bats, nets, wickets,

mallets, racquets:

Use any and all,

any combination;        

It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter because you are playing Calvinball,

and the very essence of Calvinball

is that how you play the game is entirely up to you.

The rules of the game, the form,

what it takes to win:

you decide, you make it up.

A basketball that’s kicked around a court

that includes 8 bases and 3 goals?

That’s fine!

Tennis balls hit with croquet mallets

at plastic bottles set up like bowling pins?

That’s fine too.

Whatever you like.

And here’s the best part about Calvinball:

If you don’t like the way the game is going

you can just change the rules!

Set 12 wickets as the winning number

and before long your opponent has 10 to your two.

Quick: change the rules and say the winner now

is the one with the score closest to zero.

You can change the game and the rules

depending upon your mood,

your energy level,

who you’re playing with

what type of day it is,

whether you are left-handed or right-handed,

even on which side of the bed

you got up on in the morning.

All that matters is that you are playing the game

just the way you want to.  

Calvinball is not the invention of John Calvin,

the 16th century Reformer.

It is the invention of the comic strip character Calvin

of Calvin & Hobbes fame.

You remember him: the precocious 6-year old

and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes,

created by Sam Watterson.

The strip ran for just 10 years

and ended 15 years go,

but still enjoys great popularity.  

As much as I love the idea of Calvinball

I have often thought that it is a apt description

for how we live our faith.

We profess our faith,

we learn God’s commandments

and  we study Jesus’ teachings.

But then, when we find that we don’t like certain teachings

or find certain commandments a little difficult,

we change things to suit ourselves,

adapt them to fit our own needs and desires.  

Jesus says to us, for example,

“I give you a new commandment,

that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you,

you also should love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.”

(John 13:34) 

We hear that and we nod and agree:

it fits right in with all of Jesus’ teaching,

especially when he tells us

that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves

and that our neighbors included everyone. 

But we seem unable, incapable of taking those words

and living by them

without shuffling them around a bit,

re-interpreting them,

parsing the definitions. 

We’ll love others,

but they have to be people we like,

people who look like us,

people who think and act like us,

people who are our neighbors

as we define the word.

We won’t feel obligated to love those

we don’t like,

or those we fear,

and we certainly can’t be expected

to love our enemies.  

At the very beginning of the Bible

we hear God speaking to us,

“When an alien resides with you in your land,

you shall not oppress the alien.

The alien who resides with you shall be to you

as the citizen among you;

you shall love the alien, the foreigner as yourself…”

(Leviticus 19:33-34) 

But surely, we think, that doesn’t include immigrants, does it?

Especially immigrants who are here illegally.

We’ll just change things a little,

adapt them,

“smooth off the rough edges”, so to speak. 

“Do not judge”, Jesus teaches us.

 (Matthew 7:1)

But is it really judging

when we talk about others among friends?

We’re not really being mean, of course,

we’re just …commenting.  

“Do not store up treasures on earth,

but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven..”

Wait a minute:

our economy depends upon my buying things,

your buying things.

The headlines in the business section just the other day

proclaimed, “The consumer is back!” 

“Forgive, as you have been forgiven”.

Well, we’ll forgive, but on our terms,

when we want, how we want,

slowly, reluctantly.

And even when we say we’ve forgiven,

we’ll hang onto a little grudge,

we’ll tuck it away in the bottom drawer

so it’s there just in case we need it in the future. 

“Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy,”

That’s easy, we can do that…

as long as it’s not a beautiful day outside,

or we’re tired from an exhausting week. 

Did you hear what happened to Peter

when he returned to Jerusalem

and shared what to him was exciting news,

that the Gentiles

“had also accepted the word of God”?

He was criticized:

“What were you thinking: eating with those people?

They are unclean, uncircumcised,

not the children of God.”

Perhaps Peter’s colleagues were also thinking

they were foreigners: Greeks, Romans, Ethiopians:

men and women who were not

part of the Israelite community.

That’s what the word “Gentile” meant:

it was anyone who wasn’t an Israelite,

who wasn’t a native.  

But hadn’t the Risen Jesus told his disciples

to take the good news to “all the nations”?

(Matthew 28:19)

Had our Risen Lord taught his followers,

including you and me,

that the gospel of “repentance and forgiveness of sins

is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”

(Luke 24:47)

In condemning Peter,

what were his colleagues doing?

They were playing Calvinball!

But Peter knew better,

Peter understood that God wants everyone in his Kingdom

to know his grace and love.

The fisherman spoke so powerfully,

with such profound humility, faithfulness, and wisdom,

when he said,

“Who was I, that I could hinder God?”

(Acts 11:17) 

We hinder God when we change God’s meaning,

when we change Christ’s teachings,

when we set aside grace and love,

mercy and forgiveness,

justice and kindness,

in order to pursue our own ends.

We hinder God when we play Calvinball.  

As you come to this table,

I invite you to reflect on things you are doing

that hinder, hinder God’s work.

Things you say, things you do,

or things you should be saying and doing,

but are not.  

Remember: this table provides us

with a glimpse of the life that awaits us

when we take our seats at the heavenly banquet table

in God’s eternal kingdom,

where all the saints will sit together,

reconciled, at peace. 

As you walk up to this table,

and as you walk back to your seat,

I encourage you to offer a simple prayer,

the prayer our Lord lifted up

that terrible night in the garden:

“not my will but yours be done…”

(Luke 22:42) 

Offer that prayer to God,

and let’s leave Calvinball to the comic strips.

AMEN