Last weekend I took a 12 7th and 8th grade confirmation youth to the movie: When the Game Stands Tall. The movie tells the story of a high school football team that has an incredible 151 game winning streak - 12 straight seasons without a loss! When the team finally loses, and their amazing 151 game winning streak is broken, the team starts to fall apart, until they are reminded of who they are and what they are about as a team. I enjoyed the movie and found it to be inspiring, thought-provoking, and entertaining.
Following the movie I talked with the kids and we identified three primary themes: teamwork, perseverance, and identity. No team wins 151 straight games and 12 straight California high school state championships without working together, without keeping at it, and without having a strong sense of who they are and what they are trying to accomplish. The team was about so much more than winning games.
When the DeLa Salle Spartans lost their first game in 12 years, the players clearly upset and angry, one of the coaches has some powerful words for the team. He says: Do not let this game define who you are; let your life do that.
How often do we let our failures (or our successes), bad choices, or the opinions of others define who we are? The core of our identity is not found there. The core of who we are is much deeper than even our actions. As followers of Jesus our identity is found in the claim God has on us. That claim is that you are God's child, deserving of love and respect, and God can use you to change the world.
As people who belong to God we work with each other for the good of everyone. We do life with one another. As we do life we will disagree. We will argue with one another. We will become angry with one another. Yet we are in this life together. We support one another. We forgive. We receive apologies with grace. The past cannot be changed and so we do not keep hoping that it somehow will change. We work to strengthen relationships knowing that the person with whom I disagree or perhaps not like very much is also an individual for whom Jesus died and whom Jesus loves and through whom God is at work.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God (Isaiah 62.3).
