I’m not a Cubs fan. In fact, as a Cardinals fan, I was told that Cardinals fans cheer for the St. Louis Cardinals and whoever is playing the Cubs. But getting caught up in Christian empathy, I can’t help but smile as the Chicago Cubs won their first World Series in over 100 years (and I’m sure my great grandchildren will smile when they win their next one in another 100 years).
One of the things that Cubs fans are famous for is “Flying the W”. This “the W” is a flag with a “W” on it for “win” that would fly outside of Wrigley field. My wicked St. Louis Cardinals comment to this practice is that no such flag exists for Busch Stadium where the Cardinals play because Cardinals fans know if the game resulted in a win or a loss, due to actually listening to or watching the game. We don’t need a flag to tell us we won. We know. 
But since I’m being charitable today, I’ll admit that Cubs fans — especially this season — probably know the outcome of the games of their team. They know about the win. Or the loss. So why fly the W? Because it’s a point of celebration. Today the W flies in the face of their nay sayers. Today the W flies as a rallying point for their fans. You don’t fly the W for information’s sake alone, you fly it because of emotion.
I really thought about striking that word, or at least writing it with little asterisks in between like this: “e*****n”. It’s a dirty word for Lutherans, after all, didn’t you know? We’re supposed to be shy, reasonable, reserved, and afraid of risk like our brethren from Lake Woebegone. Because that is what our founding person was like. Luther was well known for his shyness, his reasonability, his reserve, and his fear of risk — right? I mean, that guy never ever showed any emotion, heaven forbid it. (Yes, this is sarcasm. No, Luther was none of those things.)
So this year we’re ramping up to the 500th “celebration” of the Reformation, which I fear will remain in quotes unless is we take a page from the Cubbies, We have to learn to Fly the W. We know we’ve won. We have been assured of our victory by the work of the Almighty God who sent His Son to die upon the Cross. We’ve got the information, dare we take the asterisks out of the e*****n?