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I was moved by the recent story of the Portland Timbers and how they worked with the local Make-A-Wish group in order to help an 8 year-old boy’s dream of playing against his heroes true. If you haven’t read the story click here or view some of the photos here. It’s a moving story and memorable for this young boy and for all those who helped make his dream come true.

Of course, this story is an “echo.” It is similar to another story that many of us are familiar with. A story that all of us live. It involves people diagnosed with a fatal disease. They are wishing for something or someone who could save them. They are a people who wanted to be honored and elevated in spite of the difficulty of their condition. They are people who long to have hope and to rejoice in life. “They” are us. We are those who, because of the fatality of sin, have been separated from God. We are a people searching for hope, praying for salvation from our damnable state.

It is interesting to me some of the metaphorical parallels – the cross of Christ and the token wood cut that Atticus received; the exchange of jerseys and the symbolic way that God often gives us a new name, new life in Him; the cheering crowd and the cloud of witnesses that surrounds us; the end of the match and even the time when life for us must end and we go on to life eternal. The story of Atticus and the Green Machine is really our story. As chaplains, we are bearers of the story. We remind people – that we belong to God. That the cancer of sin that separates us can be overcome through Jesus Christ. That we are special to God. That He wants us to win.

Friends, we don’t have to make-a-wish. God has already granted us His great gift of grace.

Blessings,

Rev. Brad Kenney