About nine years ago, a new game
show aired called: A Minute to Win it.
As soon as I saw the first ad, I knew this show would produce fun ideas
for youth group games. I believe we even
played a few at the church mission adventure a few weeks ago. Basically, when the game show aired, it had
sixty games, all using regular household items.
A contestant must complete ten of these games, each one within a minute,
in order to win the million dollar prize.
For example, in a minute, the contestant has to pull all the Kleenex out
of the box, one at a time, or use a pizza box to fan three eggs across the
stage into a marked circle on the other side.
A minute to win it. If we are going to look at possible scenarios
within the Bible, the following would be the ten I would identify for the
game.
1. Moses and the Hebrew people crossing the Red
Sea. A minute to win it for Moses to let
the waters crash back in and drown the Egyptian army.
2. Queen Esther appearing before the king. Queen Esther has not been summoned by the
king, to summons the king herself could mean immediate death to her. Esther
stands strong and appears before the king and he grants her favor to listen to
her request. A minute to win it for
Queen Esther.
3. Elijah replenishing the flour and oil. This is a story of the prophet Elijah
encountering a widow. He asks her for a
piece of bread and a cup of water. She
tells him she only has a small amount of flour left and she is returning home
to make one more meal before she and her son die. As this story continues, the widow’s son dies
and Elijah brings him back to life. A
Minute it to win it for Elijah.
4. the walls of Jericho. In this story, the people march around the
city of Jericho for six days. On the
seventh day they give a loud blast of the trumpets and the city walls
collapse. A minute to win it for
Joshua.
5.
Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel is
thrown into the lion’s den for worshipping his one true God rather than worshipping
the king. Now, Daniel is in the lion’s
den for more than one minute. He is in
there all night, but those found to have falsely accused Daniel are thrown in
and devoured before their feet hit the ground.
A minute to win it for Daniel.
6. David and Goliath. David is a young boy who takes five smooth
stones and his sling shot and in less than a minute takes down the mighty
warrior Goliath. A minute to win it for
David.
7. Jesus turning water into wine. Jesus is at a wedding feast and the wine runs
out. In order to prevent shame and
embarrassment for the host, he asks for the ritual water jugs to be filled with
water. When they are poured out they
contain wine.
8.
the fishermen pulling up so many fish
the nets break. The fishermen have not
caught anything during their time out at sea.
Jesus sends them back out and tells them to throw out the nets which
become so full of fish the nets begin to break.
9. the feeding of the 5,000. This is the well known story of Jesus taking
five loaves of bread and two fish and feeding the masses with baskets of food
left over.
10. walking on water. Jesus has gone off to pray and has sent the
disciples ahead of him in a boat. He
walks on the water to catch up with them.
When Peter sees him coming he gets out of the boat and walks on the
water towards him, until he gets scared and begins to sink. Jesus reaches out his hand and pulls Peter to
safety.
So, throughout the Bible we have
numerous stories of God working through people in moments of quick action to
win victory over enemies, moments to show how God’s power can transform normal
everyday items into something new, or how God’s work can overcome human
doubt. And fortunately enough, we did
not have to win any of these events, let alone all ten, in order to win God’s
favor. Like Peter, when we are in a
situation where we begin to sink, when we fear, when we doubt, we have the hand
of Christ reaching out to us to pull us back up. As contestants, we do not play any of these
games alone, we have God make known to us in Jesus Christ to assist us.
This past week, I was at a
conference sponsored by Presbyterians for Earth Care. Much of this conference focused on climate
change, climate change not in something that is going to be happening in the
future, but something that is already happening. As I reflected on our passage today of David
and Goliath, the modern day Goliath that is looming in front of us is climate
change. I wish it was as easy as picking
up a smooth stone and that it could take just a minute to win it against the
destructive impact we have had on our fragile earth. It is going to take a whole lot more than a smooth
stone and a minute, but we have to face the giant before us.
During the conference, we took time
to move through lament, the grief many of us feel for parts of God’s good creation
that we have already lost and will never get back, such as animals that have
gone extinct, and the mass death of our coral reefs. But we ended the conference with hope, with
faith, with the promise that God reaches back into creation and offers
healing.
One group went on a walk: from death to
life and visited places in the area that were poisoned, where the soil was contaminated,
and then they visited places that had once been polluted and are now healed. Although I did not do this walk, it made me
think of the site down the road from here where the Habitat homes are being
built. It took a good two years to remediate
that land, the soil was heavily contaminated, and now, it is healed and able to
offer space for twelve families to live.
We need to pray for Lake Hopatcong, for the damage done to it this past
year, another Goliath before us, needing a David to come forward to defeat the causes
for why this lake had such a horrible algae bloom. But, with the work of the people, with
dedication and commitment, these damaged places can be healed.
Other places of hope were lifted up as
images of reforestation were shown, of cities being creative with urban
landscaping and greening of buildings.
Churches around our country our using solar panels on their buildings,
and are paying more attention to their carbon footprint. But, if we don’t choose to use this minute,
these minutes before us, to make healthier choices for the earth, each minute
further down the line only creates a bigger and stronger Goliath. Our time, our minutes are now, we may not have
a minute to win it, but we do have a minute to create sustainability, a minute
to slow things down, a minute to lean into God and discern what God is calling
us to do. David does not go forward to
slay Goliath without spending time with God.
David has a deep faith, and a deep trust, and he takes God forward with him
into battle. We too need to take God
forward with us as we engage all the choices we have each and every day,
between what we eat, what we buy, what we throw away, and what energy we consume.
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