RichardDawson ponders the similarities and differences between New Zealand's extraordinary cricket win over South Africa and the Gospel's good news.
Well, it's all over. The boys didn't quite make it. What a run though.
Who'd have thought we'd get that far, and with such style. Frankly, at one stage, I was thinking that one B. McCullum could've run for prime minister and had a decent chance.
Yet the talk is still about ''the journey'', ''the experience'' and ''the magic'' of it all.
Hard to believe it now and yet we were all there - hanging on every ball, delighting in every swash-buckling six and groaning at every dismissal. What a ride.
The Black Caps certainly reached heroic status after the game against the Proteas and from there, anything was possible.
With that string of wins behind us, Kiwis of every calling had what could have been described as a spiritual experience Tuesday week ago ... which gets someone in my line of work interested.
You see, it's generally pretty hard to get Kiwis even to think, let alone talk, about things ''spiritual''.
So when you have hardened sports commentators claiming, as they did on Wednesday, that their life had changed by experiencing that win, it makes you wonder what they experienced that made such a difference.
Two things seem to arise more than anything else. Firstly, that something good and positive had happened - obviously the win. Secondly, that this good thing was something all Kiwis could share in - a ''corporate'' win.
In some way, it belonged to every Kiwi. The fascinating thing is that this very closely mirrors the basic tenets of what I preach Sunday by Sunday about the event that we call the Gospel.
The word ''Gospel'' comes from an Old English word ''godspel'' which basically means ''Good News'', and it really is just that.
The life and message of Christ is simply that God loves and cares for all life, and especially for human life. Moreover, anyone who wishes to experience and share in that love can do so quite easily.
We are free to relate or not relate to God, although the back story is that we really ought to, because our attempts to live life apart from God's love have not worked very well. And this is something valid for all people.
All who desire to know God may do so through Jesus. The Good News then is something for all people and in every age, and this has been the case over the past 2000 years since Christ came. Certainly, the Church has made mistakes; it is, after all, a very human institution.
The contribution, however, of the Church to a more informed, reasonable and peaceful society cannot be doubted. But there is a difference.
Being a pretty humble sort of guy, Brendon McCullum, I have no doubt, would reject any notion that what he and his side provided on that Tuesday night was intended, in the final analysis, to really change lives and make things better for anyone in the long term.
Sport, for all its benefits, is not designed to address the deeper needs of humanity. The claims of Christ are quite different, however.
Anyone who truly chooses a relationship with God will find themselves changed, given peace, made more able to love and be loved, and freed from destructive behaviours.
In fact, they will be given a new set of values in which the wellbeing of all creation, including others, is uppermost.
This is an old story, but the continuing history of the Christian Faith bears stark witness to its truth. Choose Christ and truly live!
The Rev Richard Dawson is the minister at St Stephen's Presbyterian, Leith Valley.
