Then and Now

Fair warning:  I’m going to write about sports again.  Specifically, baseball.  I know some of you could not possibly care less about baseball.  That’s okay.  Wanda really could not care less about baseball, either.  I hope you’ll read this anyway, though, because I am going to make a point.

In recent years, there have been a lot of new strategies in baseball.  Some teams use a pitcher called an “opener”, someone who starts the game on the mound but is planned to only pitch one or two innings.  There are a lot of defensive shifts, where teams play three or even four infielders on one side of the diamond, leaving the other side completely open.  Batters are taught about “launch angles”, not just trying to hit the ball hard but trying to hit the ball with the proper arc so that, if they hit it well, it will go over the fence for a home run.

There are some fans, mostly people who’ve been fans for a long time, who don’t like these new strategies.  They think these new strategies are ruining baseball.  What’s interesting about that, though, is that a lot of these same fans are fans who still don’t like the designated hitter rule, because “it takes all the strategy out of the game.”

The point is that these people don’t either like or dislike strategy.  What they dislike is change.  They want baseball to stay the same as it’s always been, the way it was when they were young.  

I understand that.  I love the baseball that I grew up with, too.  But the two things are not mutually exclusive.  You can love the way baseball used to be and still love the way it is now.  Is it different?  Yes.  Does that mean it’s automatically better or worse?  No.  It’s just different.  We can appreciate the game the way it was and also appreciate the game the way it is.  Both can be good, and both can be baseball.

So here’s the point.  The way we do church changes over the years, just like baseball does.  We use some different songs in some different styles.  We use screens to project the words to the songs, the Bible passages, and other things.  In our Sunday night service in Gettysburg, people sit at round tables and there’s coffee and cookies available during the service.  None of those things existed when I was young.  None of those things was “church” when I was young.

But that’s okay.  I love the way church used to be, but I can also love the way church is now.  The two things are not mutually exclusive.  Is it different?  Yes.  Does that mean it’s automatically better or worse?  No.  It’s just different.  We can appreciate church the way it was and appreciate church the way it is.  Both can be good, and both can be church.

And you know what?  Things are going to continue to change, because that’s the way life works.  Ten, twenty, forty years from now, both baseball and church will be different from how they are now.  That’s okay, too.  Life has to keep moving forward.  They won’t be automatically better or worse.  They’ll just be different.  And they can still be good.

Just remember that God Himself does not change.  The way we understand God may change.  The way we tell others about God may change.  But God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  God’s power is forever.  God’s greatness is forever.  And God’s love is forever.

In a changing world, it’s good to know we have a God we can always count on.