It’s a “Do-Over”
In the old movie, “City Slickers,” there is a scene in which three friends are together and one of them is telling the others about how he has messed up his entire life. He’s lost his wife. He’s lost his child. He’s lost his job. He’s lost his self-respect. He is basically telling his friends, “It’s all over. I’m such a loser.”
That’s when the character played by Billy Crystal tells his friend, “No, that’s not true. You have everything to live for. It’s a fresh start. It’s a ‘do-over’.” Then Crystal reminds his friend that when they were children, playing baseball in the old neighborhood, occasionally one of them would hit the ball toward an old tree and it would get caught up in the tree and interfere with the play. All the kids would yell “Do over!” and they would do the play all over again. “Your life is a do-over,” Crystal tells his friend.
How many of us would love to have a “do-over” for something we have done in our life?- a second chance?–or a third? That’s what this Sunday’s story in scripture is about: a man who struck out three times, miserably failing to follow Jesus faithfully, and yet who was given a chance to begin again. 2000 years later, we remember him as the the shepherd of the early church. Do you know his name?
Hope to see you at church this week!
Grace and Peace,
Callie
