Pentecost 3 (NL4) John B. Valentine
1 Corinthians 3:1-23 June 14, 2026

“PLAYING FOR THE NAME ON THE FRONT”

I don’t know just how many of you are really sports fans ... but do you realize just how crazy a sports weekend this is???

I mean ....

• Soccer fans have got a passel of World Cup games to watch ... and
• Hockey fans are fixated on the Stanley Cup Finals ... and
• Golf folks can hunker down with the Canadian Open ... and
• The NBA Finals betwixt the Knicks and the Spurs ... which ended were nothing short of amazing.

And ... for the record ... I’m not one who considers that activity that is supposed to happen on the hallowed lawn of the White House this evening in honor of President Trump’s birthday to be a “sporting event” ....

Anyhow ... let’s start out this morning with a tidbit of sports trivia.

Ready????

“What is it that James Harden, Allen Iverson and Luka Donçic have in common?”

Seriously ... beyond the fact that they are three of the most polarizing figures to have played in the NBA ... what is it that James Harden, Allen Iverson and Luka Donçic have in common?

Anybody know this one???

• Harden won the scoring championship three times ...
• Iverson won the scoring championship four times .... and
• Donçic just won the scoring championship for the second time ...

But NONE of them has ever won a NBA title.

And while their fans and supporters would explain it away by saying that each embrace a “ball-dominant styles of play” ...

Their detractors would say that they’re all just “selfish” ... and that they were/are more concerned about their own individual statistics than they were/are about the statistics of their teams.

Now I know that basketball wasn’t invented until like 1891 ... like eighteen hundred and fifty years after Saint Paul wrote that bit of text that was this morning’s Bible lesson ...

But it would seem pretty clear that Saint Paul wouldn’t have been a fan of “ball-dominant” ... i.e. “Selfish” ... styles of play”.

That he would had called out anyone and everyone who was more concerned about their own statistics and accolades than they were about the success of their team.

+ + + + +

You see ... the whole point of this morning’s lesson is that it’s all about “team”.

“Grow up!” .. Paul says ... “Quit your bickering!” ... “Stop acting like babies!”

“Here I go and leave town for a while and you immediately divide yourselves into a bunch of little factions.

• I’m on Team Apollos ....
• I’m on Team Paul ....
• I’m on Team Jesus ....

Just stop!

Let’s be honest. The behavior of those folks in the Greek city of Corinth two millennia ago isn’t much different than what passes in churches like ours even to this day!

I mean ... when I first arrived here at Holy Shepherd some twenty-three years ago now ... this community had factionalism down pat!

I can’t tell you how many people introduced themselves to me by explaining:

• “I was an old member of Holy Cross in Moraga” ...
• “I’m a recent import from Our Savior’s in Lafayette” ...
• “I’m part of the original Shepherd of the Valley crew.”

Everybody wanted their new pastor to know which team they were on.

Thankfully ... we’ve pretty well moved beyond THAT set of factions.

Then again ... at one point we took a turn at dividing ourselves over worship styles and musical preferences:

• “I only want contemporary music ... I only want traditional.”
• “I’m on Team Julie and Bethany ... I’m on Team Tom and Marc.”

There have even been some times when people have called the church office asking “Who’s preaching this Sunday?”

As if to intimate that they’re not going to come to worship if their preferred preacher isn’t going to be in the pulpit.

To which I can’t but imagine Saint Paul would say to us Lamorindans exactly the same thing he once said to the Corinthians ...

“Stop acting like babies!” ... “Quit your bickering!” ... “Grow up!”

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I’m really excited to report that our Call Committee cleared a big hurdle this week.

They have finalized this thing called a “Ministry Site Profile” ... which is basically a ‘want ad’ explaining to potential pastoral candidates who we are as a congregation and what kinds of gifts and abilities we seek in a person whom we might perhaps bring on board.

They hand this MSP thing over to the synod office and the synod staff folks use it as a lens by which to match our expressed needs with candidates’ expressed gifts.

And thus we begin the dance of trying to find a person who just might serve as an additional member of our staff team.

But that honestly comes with a caution! One highlighted by just these very words from 1st Corinthians ... chapter 3.

It is ‘human nature’ to take sides ... to subdivide ... to set things in opposition.

And it could well be ... if we bring an additional pastor onto our staff team ... that we’ll fall into this trap that Paul warns us about.

IF we’re going to bring someone on board ... to call them to be in ministry among us and with us and for us ...

We will need to covenant with one another ... and with them ... and work with one another and with them ... to ensure that we don’t fall into this trap.

+ + + + +

But look at how Paul addresses those concerns.

He busts out a couple of images ... a garden and a construction project ... two images that are near and dear to my heart.

First ... the garden.

You see ... Bethany and I both take great pride in growing our annual crop of tomatoes.

I ... for my part ... like the ‘prep the tomato bed’ part of the task ... the ‘playing in the dirt’.

• Roto-tilling in the chicken manure ...
• Setting in the anti-critter cages ...
• Making sure the cages and the trellises are just so.

Bethany ... on the other hand ... likes the ‘meticulous care of the plants themselves’ part ...

• Trimming back the suckers and the under-foliage ...
• Watering not too little ... and not too much ... and then
• Harvesting when they’re just at their prime ... and not when they’re getting too soft.

But ought we bicker about who did more ... or who worked harder ... or whose labors mattered most?

No ... Paul says ... we just ought to enjoy the harvest!

Then Paul relates it to a building.

But do the architect and the stone mason and the carpenter and contractor bicker about whose labor really mattered?

No of them do all the work ... but every one of their efforts is essential to the completion of the building as a whole.

And besides ... the building is a temple ... intended for the worship of God ... so use the building as intended ... not as an excuse to divide the very group that it is built to build up!

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You know ... the one sport I didn’t really mention when I ran through that litany of all the sporting events on the idiot box this weekend was baseball.

But there’s a long-cherished story from the baseball world about just this very message that Paul is trying to ‘hammer home’ ... or is it ‘plant’ ... the heads of those Corinthian Christians.

The Dodgers ... yes ... those despicable Dodgers ... were ... for a long time ... managed by a fellow named Tommy Lasorda ....

Fiery ... feisty ... and eminently quotable ... Tommy Lasorda ... that guy.

Anyhow ... it is alleged that Tommy Lasorda had a speech that he gave each and every year ... at the beginning of the season ... to all of the rookies on his team.

He’d bring all the rookies together ... all those who’d never played a game in the Big Leagues before ... knowing that they would all be a whole bundle of nerves and emotions ... and try to deliver one particular message.

And ... to that end ... he’d have one of the rookies stand up ...

• and ask him how he was doing ...

• and talk a bit about how he must be pretty proud about finally making it to the bigs ...

• and noting how his family and friends must be pretty proud of him making it to the bigs ...

• and then he’d have that rookie turn around ... and he’d point to the name on the back of the jersey ... and affirm that most of the messages that that player had been hearing in recent days were about the name on the back of the jersey ... that particular player’s name.

But then he’d have that player turn around ... and point to the logo or the lettering on the front of the jersey ... and say:

“Son ... when you go out on the field today ... remember this. It's not the name on the back of the jersey that you need to be concerned about today ... it the name on the front of the jersey that demands your full attention."

Like this:

This is a baseball jersey! And the name on the back on this jersey is my name ... Valentine ... but it could be your name on the back here just as easily as mine.

Meanwhile ... the logo ... the name on the front of the jersey is ... in this case ... the Anaheim Angels jersey ... from back before they became the ‘Los Angeles Angels’ or the ‘Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’ or what ever it is that they call themselves these day.

And what Paul ... Saint Paul ... is trying to remind us ... is that we ought be far LESS concerned about the name on the back of the our jerseys .... and far more concerned about the name on the front.

You see ... if we’re playing for the name on the back of the jersey ... then it’s all about pride and personal stats and self-promotion ...

But ... if we’re playing for the name on the front of the jersey ... then it’s all about the team and the community and the shared mission and our common identity and our common good.

After all ... being “church together” means we’re all playing for ... and with ... the Angels now!