Forward Living

4 years prior to my birth...that's when it happened. 1967. The last time the storied franchise called the Toronto Maple Leafs won hockey's Stanley Cup. Right now, I'm looking at an art print of the players from that team. They look young and happy as they sit/stand around the fabled Cup. But as I now think about it, those men are all senior citizens. You see, it's been 40 years since they were champions.
But yet, on Saturday night, the organization brought back most of those same players from the 66-67 team. In a moving tribute to a team that showed grit and determination - the modern day crowd stood and applauded in a genuine fashion. In a way, the city (and all Leaf fans) were celebrating a Stanley Cup victory. For a hockey city that has not had a hockey celebration in 40 years - this was as good as it's been in a long time.
I appreciate the past. We can learn so much from it. We are to remember that which has been done and accomplished prior to our arrival. In fact, who we are and where we're going is fashioned, to a large degree, by what has been before us. But we cannot live there. Following the ceremony to the the former hockey heroes last Saturday - the puck was dropped and a new game was played. It isn't natural - I'll explain below - to live in the past, and not be forward living people.
Every year we celebrate a birthday (whether we like it or not). Our birthday is a remembrance of the beginning of our life here on earth. But it is not a re-living of that experience. We grow and change as our birthdays increase. We're not living in the past, but celebrating today. Without the past, we're incomplete, but to not move ahead is to not truly live our life.
For the church to not be forward living is detrimental. Some of what used to be effective and powerful needs to stay in the past. It was effective then, but now God is using other means. It will be the same with those things eventually, as well. If we stay focused on what was and not grow with what God wants to do in our current world, then we'll be missing out on the 'newness' of how God desires to use His people.
I'm certainly not advocating changing the foundations of our faith - and I'm not talking specifically of music or preaching styles. But if the church is not relevant to today's world, then the church is not relevant at all.
We can stand and applaude the past, but the puck is being dropped on a new game. Christ is still the Head of the Church and He still calls us to follow Him.
Will we follow Him - no matter what that may mean - as we march forward to Zion.
Let me know what you think - pastorken93@hotmail.com

P.S. Montreal Canadiens were the defeated foe back in 1967 :)

"Send Revival, Start with Me."
Pastor Ken