First Person Plural

I visited Calvary Chapel East Anaheim last night for their Wednesday night service. Bob Kopeny is the Senior Pastor there, and he is taking his flock through the Old Testament. This night, he was teaching on the 5th (and last) chapter of Lamentations.

Lamentations, written by Jeremiah, is as the name implies a lament over Israel's sin and the resultant destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians, who then take the Israelites of Judah captive, hauling them to their own land.

Jeremiah, who wrote the book of Jeremiah as a warning to the nation Israel for their sin, is a holy, passionate man of God. He is known as "The Weeping Prophet," as his sorrow is evident in his words and actions. He loves God, loves purity, loves obedience. And he loves his people, the nation Israel, although they have wandered so far from God.

Despite his warnings, Israel's sin continues, and the people end up slaves in Babylon. And so Jeremiah writes Lamentations, really a series of 5 prayer poems expressing sorrow over how it came to this.

Bob read Lamentations 5:16: "The crown has fallen from our head; Woe to us, for we have sinned!" "Crown" represents Judah - they have lost their preeminency as a nation. Sound familiar? Note that in the second part of the verse, Jeremiah is using the first person plural - us/we. Remember, he is a righteous man - called by God to prophesy to Israel. He could have used the second person plural - "You have sinned," and deflected his condemnation outward to others. But no, he includes himself in the problem, in the confession.

Bob then brought us to the present, to America. Our wonderful country is truly in degradation - losing its grip on Judeo/Christian worldview. Morals have declined, complete disregard for the concerns of others, personal responsibility seems non-existent. Yet we as Christians so often use the third person plural - "you" - when expressing our condemnation. But, as with Jeremiah, we identify with our nation, we are Americans, and are all responsible. First person plural.

And so the moral of the story - as Christians, we must, MUST, fight against the direction our country has taken. But we must also include ourselves - after all, we are Americans too - in our confession. Take the high road, the bold way. We should include ourselves in the problem. It will be much easier to create revival and turnaround if we do.

It's How You Play the Game

I suppose I shouldn't get too upset at the lack of success on the latest Laker road trip. After all, Shaq never gave an ounce of effort during the regular season, and his teams (for the most part) were able to "turn on the switch" when the playoffs came around.

Here is what I don't like - I don't like the WAY they are playing. I don't like wasting 2 1/2 hours of a nice evening watching bad basketball - win or lose. It was a complaint I had (and still have) with UCLA basketball - even when they are winning, if you can't play the game right, you lose my interest. I began the year saying this was one of my favorite Laker teams. because of the way they were playing. I take it all back.

What concerns me is that there are a lot of excuses and complaintes about the Lakers' play - the can't turn on the switch, there is no sense of urgency, Kobe hogs the ball too much, the rest of the players defer too much, Pau is too soft, Bynum doesn't "go after" rebounds, Jackson needs to get in their face more, they need to get the ball inside more - on and on ad nauseum.

What about this possibility? The Lakers just aren't that good this year. Many teams have improved the quality of their play, and the Lakers have digressed. Kobe is not the player he was last year (maybe it's the injuries, maybe the mileage). Fisher only plays because Jackson loves his heart - but Fisher can't guard a desk. Who, tell me who on this team, is a better player this year than last? Sasha? Morrison?

And when times are hard, Kobe blames everyone except himself. I know, and agree - Lebron is a punk. But the difference between Lebron and Kobe is how their teammates feel about them. With Lebron, his teammates don't want to let him down. With Kobe, they don't want to piss him off. Which teammate would rather have, or play harder for?

Once thought of as a very deep team, they have proven otherwise - they are really quite shallow. The bench is deplorable. Lamar is still Lamar, and with Khloe (sp? - whatever), reality shows and Samsung commercials, this problem is worse this year. Did I say the bench is deplorable? Did I say that this Laker team this year is simply not that good?

I hope they can turn on the switch come playoff time. But I am having serious doubts. This is a team that could lose in the first round. It's also a team that could win it all.

For now, I will not waste my evenings watching a team that will not (or maybe cannot) play quality, team basketball. So call me an alarmist then. I'll be back when the playoffs start.