I had the great honor to attend Duke University for Divinity School but you’ve got to know doing so broke a lot of hearts in my family.  You see, my entire family is filled with Tarheels.  As a consequence, I was a huge Carolina fan growing up.  And, of course, the pride and joy of any Tarheel is the men’s basketball team and I was obsessed. 

I   cried in 1981 when the team lost to the Indiana Hoosiers in the NCAA tournament final.  Ah, but then, in 1982, the drought ended with a sweet jump shot by none other than a freshman Michael Jordan.  Interestingly enough, my parents had recently acquired a VCR just a few weeks prior to the game.  That game was taped.  Oh, how we loved going back and watching that win.  In fact, as the years went by, every time the Tarheels lost in the tourney, we’d go back and play that tape.  And, just as it had in 1982, watching that old victory made us feel better.  That is to say that it worked…for a time.

  But as the Tarheel losses in the NCAA tournament piled up, that tape’s ability to make us feel better diminished.  With the progression of years, not only did the tape itself start breaking down, so did the joy we received.  Eventually, it became little more than a sad ritual; one that neither uplifted nor provided hope. 

  As with anything else, we tend to return to what works as a matter of course.  But what if what initially worked stops doing so?  The sad fact of the matter is that, in some regard, we do not.  Habits form and the next thing you know, we find it terribly hard to change what we’re doing. 

  If anything, being authentically Christian means changing or more rightly stated, being changed by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit.    

  But the genesis of that change I believe required letting go of the past and finding, in and through Jesus Christ, a new pattern for living.  I read to you now from 1 Peter 5, verses 5b-11 – “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.  Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  To Him be the dominion forever and ever.  Amen.”

  When we moved to Charlotte in 1976, my sister immediately joined the girl scout pack at Sharon Presbyterian Church.  They met in the gymnasium building.  My Mom was one of their leaders so every meeting, I’d have to go and wait in the lobby.

  Well, it was dull.  One day, I took to exploring.  I found myself in a closet with a set of switches.  I started playing with them.  Nothing happened so I thought they were busted.  That is, until I heard shouts from the gym.  As it would turn out, I’d turned off all the overhead lights in the gymnasium.  Worse still, those lights didn’t just turn back on.  Somehow it took them time to warm up.  Long story short, the girl scout meeting was unceremoniously cancelled.

  As they tried to figure out what happened, my Mom asked me in front of everyone, “Jason, did you do this?”

  My young mind whirled into action.  If I told the truth, I KNEW I’d be grounded for, like, ever.  So, I lied.  “Nope, wasn’t me.”  Suspicion passed from me rather quickly.  I was so relieved. 

  Now look, I’m not here to tell you that was the first time I lied but I assure you it wasn’t the last.  And every time I’ve ever been dishonest, I’ve done so because I thought it would work the exact same way.  That I’d walk away from my misdeed scot-free.  Of course, it didn’t but, strangely, that never stopped me from trying