Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers head coach, was a fanatic for fundamentals. After a game in which the Packers lost to an ill-deserving team, Lombardi called his team together and roared: “OK, we go back to the basics.” Then, holding the football high enough for all to see, he continued to yell: “Gentleman, this is a football.”
For the church, it’s now back to blocking and tackling basics. To a world that thinks it’s quoting Shakespeare when it quotes the Bible; to a world in which the Bible has become an unknown book; to a world that picks up the Bible when it goes to spoiling for a fight; to a church that gives restaurant menus and [social media] closer readings than it does Scripture: to this world and to this church it’s time to hold up the Bible and say: People, this is a Bible. People, this is a life compass. People, this is what helps you find the North Star. Off course? Lost your blessings? Drifting in a dark sea? People, this is how you find life’s bearings.
The compass, strict and sure, is what enables us to locate our lives in relation to the Star of Bethlehem. The compass is what shapes and fashions our lives into the likeness of Christ.
The Apostle Paul believed that when the Word of God becomes a part of who you are, “You are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (2 Corinthians 3:3)
-- Leonard Sweet in “Aqua Church: Essential Leadership Arts for
Piloting Your Church in Today’s Fluid Culture”
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