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| Newsletter of Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church |
From the
Pastor’s Pen;
“Waiting
for Zoltan”
If you haven’t noticed, “Pirate fever” has gripped
western PA as thousands, perhaps millions, have embraced, and are fervently
rooting for, what was once a struggling, last-place ball club; the lowly
Pittsburgh Pirates. And the reason for
this excitement is because we are not in last place anymore. As of my writing this, the Pirates have
become one of the best teams in the National League. For the last month they have been in an
exciting pennant race, competing for first place in the NL Central
with the Reds. They are currently 1 game
out of first place behind the Reds, but this could change with every game the
two clubs play. The Bucs are 10 games
over .500, they have one of the top three pitching staffs in the NL, as well as
one of the top five offences in the league.
They are led by a legitimate NL MVP (Most Valuable Player) candidate, center-fielder,
Andrew McCutchen. “Cutch” is currently
hitting .374 (That’s right, THREE SEVENTY FOUR!). Growing up, I can remember following the
career of the great Roberto Clemente, but I cannot remember when, even the
“Great One”, ever hit .374! If the NL
playoffs were held today, the Pirates would be in them. After some 20 years of failing baseball,
Pittsburgh has, once again, a championship caliber baseball team. It has been a long wait.
With all this excitement has come a lot of extra-curricular
fun associated with the name “Zoltan.”
It seems one afternoon in April before a game, the Pirates’ players had
some down time with nothing to do; so they turned on the clubhouse TV to catch
a movie. There was nothing on except a
very lame comedy made in 2000 called Dude,
Where’s My Car?, starring a young Ashton Kutcher. In it, Kutcher and his side kick get caught
up in a cult that is waiting for a return of a cosmic alien named Zoltan, who
will one day return to earth and take up all those that are waiting for him
into outer space. In one memorable (?)
scene, this group is seen wearing clothes made of bubble wrap, calling on
Zoltan, and making a special sign with their two hands, the left over the
right, with the thumbs touching in the middle.
When viewed by another, the two hands make a “Z” shape; Z for Zoltan.
For some reason, the sign for Zoltan caught the imagination of the Pirates’ players and they adopted this sign for themselves when they play. But they kept this as a kind of secret, only talking about it among themselves. For at least a month into the season, in televised games, you could see the players making this sign on the field after getting on base. I observed it being given many times, and wondered what was going on. After a hit, the player on base would flash the “Z” sign towards the Pirates’ dugout and all those in the dugout would flash the same sign back. But I still did not know what it meant.
The Pittsburgh media picked up on this and soon
investigated. In an article in the
Post-Gazette in early July, the story about this movie and the Zoltan sign finally
emerged. Later I saw both Garrett Jones
and Andrew McCutchen interviewed on TV and they described the rules for giving
the Z sign. As a player, you must not
talk about the sign until it is given, and it is not to be shown except after a
Pirate gets an extra-base hit (a double, triple, or home run), or knocks in a
run. Once this occurs, the base runner
must show this sign to the dugout and the sign is then returned by those who
see it.
The veteran leaders on the club, mainly pitcher A.J.
Burnett and catcher Rod Barajas, continually enforce the showing of this
sign. Baseball players are known for
their superstitious ways, and it would appear that this horsing around is
encouraged by the team leaders as a way to keep the younger players loose and
focused; and, of course, to magically ensure that the Pirates’ continue to
win. It would seem that Zoltan has become
a kind of baseball god, and when he grants the Bucs success, his sign must be
shown to give him credit, or else the team may start to loose.
When this story came out, it did not take long for the
Pirates’ nation to get caught up in all this Zoltan horse-foolery. Now you can buy several kinds of Zoltan
T-shirts, numerous “Z” signs can be viewed in the crowd during Pittsburgh’s
home games, and it has been reported that Pirates’ manager, Clint Hurdle,
cannot shop in his local Walgreens without a passing fan flashing him the Z sign
for Zoltan. So far, it has been a magical season for the
Pirates. It would seem that all of
Pittsburgh is now waiting for Zoltan, that cosmic alien/baseball god, in hopes
that he will return to earth in October and take the Pirates and their fans
into the blessed outer space of the NL playoffs.
As I too have caught Zoltan fever this Summer, it has occurred
to me that there are many parallels between this Zoltan story and the Christian
faith. As believers in Christ, we too await a
redeemer who will one day return to this earth and usher in an era of salvation
for all those who are found in him. Of
course we believe Jesus is REAL, and not some made up cosmic alien derived from
a bad movie; and the era of salvation we look for is certainly much more
complex, extensive, and eternal than the NL playoffs (although if you are a die-hard
Pirates’ fan, the NL playoffs come very close!).
But I wonder if we Christians might learn something from
this Zoltan mania. The return of Jesus
is something we Christians say we believe in.
The New Testament scriptures are full of references to this hope (cf. Matthew
24:30-31; 26:64; Mark 13:26-27; 14:62; Luke 21:23;
Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians
15:23; Philippians 1:6; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 2:1-5; 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 1:10-12; 4:1; Hebrews
11:27-28; James 5:7-8; 1 Peter 1:13; 2 Peter 3: 3-13: and Revelation 19:11-21:17; 22:20; -to name
just a few). Moreover, one of the
earliest (and briefest) Christian witnesses to this hope is contained in the
Aramaic expression, maranatha , or
“Our Lord Come” (1 Corinthians 16:22).
The phrase derives from the earliest
Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in Palestine. It was used so often that it became solidified
within Christian Greek culture in its original and untranslated form. In addition, every time we Presbyterians celebrate the Lord’s supper, we say that we are “proclaiming the Lord’s death, until he comes (back)” (1 Corinthians 11:26). In fact, the entire sacramental ceremony is seen by us as a foreshadowing of the great banquet to be held for all believers when Jesus returns ( cf. Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:16-18). The belief that Jesus will one day return for all the saints is one that lays at the very foundation of our Christian faith and hope.
If this is true, why don’t we Christians live like we believe it? We can get so very excited over a made up baseball myth about Zoltan and the Pirates, but all too often when it comes to a real return by Jesus, we lack any such excitement and seem to be only “ho-hum” about it. We seemed to be bored, or apathetic with the idea. Perhaps we think that the church has been waiting for Jesus for so long, that maybe he will never get here. Perhaps we are weary of waiting. Perhaps with so many theological charlatans out there predicting that Jesus will return next month, we have become cynical and doubtful of any possibility of his return anytime soon. We have heard it all before. We have been there, done that, and have bought the t-shirt.
Perhaps the concept of Jesus' return it is a bit vague and unbelievable to us. Yes, the NT mentions the event, and we affirm every
Sunday in our Apostles’ Creed that “he shall come to judge the quick and the
dead”, but how is this event really going to come off? What is the physical reality behind the NT’s
descriptions of Jesus’ return? Even Jesus himself said that he did not know when he would return; only the father knows. Do we
fully understand what the ancient Christians were saying about his return? Were they using picturesque and exaggerated language, or are we to take it all very literally? Will a trumpet really sound? Will we really be “caught up in the
air”? What is really going to happen,
and can we, as modern, thinking people still believe in it?
It really does not matter to me whether I understand this
event fully, or not. I do not understand a lot
of things about the scriptures. Sometimes, to me, they are as clear as mud on a given issue. I also do not understand a lot of things about my life of faith. But I do not have to. With the help of the Spirit of God, I understand and accept what I can and
leave the rest to Jesus. He has created
my faith, he is the author of it; I can leave all the details to him. Jesus’ return will happen whether we
understand it or not.
But what if we lived like Pirates fans are living this
summer? What if we were on pins and
needles with each day’s game? What if we
embraced the exciting possibilities for miracles, large or small, to happen in
our lives every day? What if, like
Pirates’ fans, we lived our lives fully expecting to win each day when we faced adversity; or what if we
went about each day expecting to overcome whatever was out there, and if we did not, we would not loose heart? We could always turn the page, become refreshed, and expect to get at it anew the next day? What if, with each seemingly impossible spiritual situation we found ourselves in, we still expected God to show up in the 9th inning and hit that walk-off home run? What if we lived each day with the
expectation that we could defeat any dose of sorrow and pain, all because we
knew Jesus was in our lives and one day he would return for us? What would our lives be like if,
with each day, we lived with excited certainty and confidence; just as excited about Jesus’ return as we now
are about each Pirate win?
Maybe we just don’t think about Jesus’ return that
much. Maybe we rarely take the time to
rejoice in that thought; that the Lord of the universe is coming one day for
you and me to make things eternally right in our lives and in a newly created
world? Maybe if we lived each day with
this thought, our day would go better, smoother, a bit easier, and a bit more
exciting, all because, in Christ Jesus, we knew we were all going to be
winners?
Maybe with every spiritual hit we make in each day, in
excited anticipation, we could joyously make a “J” sign (J for Jesus) with our hand and flash it to
those in our spiritual dugout, and those in our dugout, our friends, family and church, could also make a “J” sign and
flash it back to us? And we could then get
through our day, regardless of how it went, with rejoicing, just as Pirates’ fans are now doing. This summer I am thanking God for giving
Pittsburgh the foolishness of Zoltan mania; for it is teaching me something
important in my life about waiting in joyful anticipation for the return of our
Lord.
Got to go now. My son, Dylan, has the TV on, Pedro
Alvarez has just put us ahead with a home run, and Dylan is flashing me the Z
sign. I laugh and respond with my Z sign; but I will also do something else. I will rejoice in my heart because I know Jesus will one day do much, much more for my life than
Zoltan ever could.
See you in church!
Your Servant,
Dr. John
