In the big inning, ...
I play baseball, not very well, but I play. Until this year, my competitive baseball resume consisted only of church league softball, where I had won two different league championships with the two different teams that I had played on. It was no secret that I wasn't a key contributor to the success of those teams. While I delivered key hits at points, and key catches from time to time, I merely held my own, and no more.

This year, I made the switch to a more competitive league, and a fastball one at that. The team that I am on now is officially the men's baseball team for the church that I pastor. However, in a relatively frequent apparent contradiction, the team is made up of guys who drink, swear and who talk sexually all the time. These are not the kind of guys that I grew up with, and I certainly didn't have a lot of friends like this in college or high school. Combining my different lifestyle, with my inability to play the game at a highly competitive level, I expected to not fit in here as well. I enjoy baseball though, and I didn't sense much immediate discrimination, so I played along, and joined the guys for beers after the game (I don't drink any, I'm just there to shoot the breeze with them). I fit in now, and I enjoy the games and much of the post-game ritual.

There has been some concern voiced recently that a team of guys that swear as much as they do, etc. are a bad reflection on the church. I was asked my opinion on that matter. I said that I see no connection between playing baseball and being a Christian, so the complaint is irrelevant. I've since done some more thinking about it. Surely I would have more fun with a bunch of guys more similar to my own set of beliefs, who told my type of jokes, and who drank less if at all, but I've come to embrace where I am at.
- Other teams don't swear as much, but there are more than one player in the league who has a jersey number 69, and there is a team called the Hooters. Surely if we would censor out all aspects of the league that are un-Christian, those things would disappear as well.
- Jesus didn't play baseball, but if he did, his team would likely resemble the 12 disciples who came from all walks of life, most of them with rough and tumble pasts.
- I am a minister (professionally, but we as Christians are all called to minister) and even in the holiest of places, my church, I have to minister, why should I expect not to do so on the baseball diamond.
- Churches could learn a lot from my baseball team. I shouldn't fit in there, but I do. I live differently and would prefer them to live more like me, but they accept me. They offer me non-alcoholic drinks, they laugh at my jokes, and they forgive my misgivings, on and off the field. Do we as Christians do the same? What if they felt as accepted in my church, as I do around their cooler of beer?
- Being a Christian doesn't make you a good baseball player, in fact, it should make you a worse baseball player. Giving help to the needy and hope to the downtrodden are at the core of Jesus' teachings. Who is more needy and downtrodden than the team that gets beat 17-2?
I like the idea of church league baseball, and I also like the idea of Calvin's Geneva, but for us to try to create a utopian state, where everyone loves each other, and fun is had by all, is unrealistic. It's baseball, teams win and teams lose, umps make bad calls, and players make bad plays, and because of those things, people get upset. It's not my place to tell other people how to get upset, but to show them a better way to respond.

   [ posted by William @ 11:55 AM ]