SUNDAY MORNING

from the pastor

June 8, 2003

The sun is appearing from behind the clouds and the neighborhood starts to sparkle. A light breeze causes tree branches to bob gently. And my first preference is to take my coffee on the back patio and soak up the peacefulness of the morning.

It has been a baseball weekend for me. The Cubs are playing the Yankees: two of the most tradition rich teams in the game. The Yankees are the most successful team in the history of baseball. The Cubs are not. The last time the two teams played was 1938. My mother was four years old. Grace Church was 39 years old. The current president of the United States had not been born, and World War II had not yet started. The Cubs and Yankees met in the World Series that year, and the Yankees swept them four games to zero. They also met in 1932 in the World Series, and the Yankees swept them four games to zero then.

I started watching the Cubs sometime around 1960--due to nap time insomnia. We lived in the country outside Hinkley, Illinois, and afternoons were my mother= s break from raising four boys. We were all sent upstairs for a nap. Being the oldest, it felt a little insulting to me to be treated like the rest. And so I convinced my mother that she should let me stay downstairs and watch the Cubs on WGN. Since Wrigley Field didn't have lights in those days, they played all their home games in the afternoon--right during nap time. And WGN broadcast all the home games. It was in my mother= s self interest to let me watch the game rather than have me ask every five minutes whether I could get up from my nap.

And so I became a Cub fan. My brothers, who slept their summers away, became Cardinal and Giant fans.

And I have seen the Cubs lose lots of games. But I pace myself, and hope springs eternal every year. And for a Cub fan, heaven would be a victory over the New York Yankees. Nothing would justify decades of loyalty more than the Cubs beating the Yankees. But since the Cubs are a National League team and the Yankees are an American league team, they would normally only play each other if both of them made the World Series in the same year. And the Cubs have been a mite bit tardy showing up for the World Series, going on 58 years now.

But due to a change in league rules, the two teams were scheduled to play each other in the regular season--this weekend. And so the Yankees came to Wrigley Field. My daughters and I got a hold of some tickets, and we went Friday afternoon. The Cubs lost. Barely. But it was a moral victory--the way they came back--the winning run at the plate in the bottom of the ninth.

And then there was yesterday. I watched game two on television. History was made. The Cubs beat the Yankees. The first time in history. Hell will finally freeze over. The summer will finally warm up. The Cubs will finally make it to the World Series, and win. And there will be world peace. The morning has indeed broken. --Mike

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