My family just returned from a family reunion on my cheesehead husband’s side. The weather in Wisconsin was lovely but they all kept complaining about how hot it was there! It got up to 90 degrees! For those of us living in Oklahoma, in the hottest summer on record, 90 degrees was a wonderfully cool experience. At night it even got down to 57 degrees and we had to use a blanket. It was so nice to remember what normal weather felt like.
On the way home, we decided to drive through Dyersville, Iowa to see the Field of Dreams baseball field. We discovered that the family farm where this movie was shot had been sold to some investors who will be building a baseball/softball mecca. We thought it was important to see it while the corn still surrounded it and it resembled the humble place that was depicted in the movie. The information on the sign taught us that 64,000 people came to this small family farm every year to see the place where the movie had been located. Which begs the question why? What is it about that movie that draws people?
From memory, I would have to say because it is a movie about second chances. Every character, in one way or another, finds healing through the building of this baseball field where miraculously people bridge between heaven and earth. One of the most famous lines in the movie is “Is this heaven? No it’s Iowa.” The cast of characters are from all kinds of backgrounds and are drawn- in a way that makes no sense at all- to this field. And the fact that this field was built at all is a miracle. The man who owns the farm is getting calls from the bank. The whole town thinks he is crazy. But he builds it anyway and miraculous things start to happen. He listens to the still small voice who compells him to act.
As a pastor who has been asked to start a new church in an area that is full of churches, I identify with this man. It seems crazy to take the risk, to begin when more people are leaving churches than joining them, to start with nothing and hope for everything, to trust that still small voice that has compelled to me try. But so many things have come together in a way that can only be explained by accepting that the Holy One has a plan that- how can I not try? Probably the most famous line of this movie is, “If you build it, they will come.” I hope that as we build a community of faith, that people will find it a place of second chances, have moments that feel like miracles and heal in their relationship with their Creator. Our field of dreams is right here.
by 
