Hit Me Grounders
David C. Myers
September 7, 2008
Communion
"Hit Me Grounders"
Luke 2:39 - 52
Text: "The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon Him." . . . Luke 2:40
For your contemplation: "No one grows old, but when you stop growing, you are old." . . . anonymous
Let me make my confession. It may not be earthshaking, but nonetheless, you need to know my weaknesses.
I am an unabashed baseball nut. While I love to go to the ballpark, I prefer more the intricacies of the game - the strategy; the chemistry that makes up a team; the unseen, yet critical things that determine the outcome of a game; - and, of course, the statistics! Sometimes I would rather read about baseball than watch it. It probably also helps that as a kid, I knew I was going to be the next Red Sox idle, a la Ted Williams.
I would also add, as a caveat to my confession, that having been in the preaching business for some 30 years, I know that when a preacher is a nut about anything, that "anything" becomes for that preacher a metaphor of life.
Now, because this is Church School kick-off Sunday (oops a mixed metaphor - perhaps I better say "play ball!" Sunday?), I also want to focus on Christian Education. And when I think of Christian Education, I think of growth and change.
One of the most exciting features of being Christian is the belief in the resurrection and the possibility of continual new life. Growth and change, for the Christian, therefore is a constant - it is the central and the unchangeable of our faith. Indeed, Calvin Coolidge, not one otherwise known for his theological insights, never-the-less once said, "it is only when we begin to worship that we begin to grow." And as we worship the Risen Christ, we become aware of the possibilities of new growth, or new life, in our own life's journey.
It is this belief that makes a day that focuses on the importance of Christian Education so exciting to me - for it is a time for us to reflect on how important it is for us to grow and to continue to learn new things about ourselves and how we live and relate our faith with others. It is time to reflect on how we grow as we encounter the changes brought about by new and ever expanding situations.
Let me try to illustrate ways in which people in the Christian community deal with change and the myriad possibilities of life by using baseball - especially kids' baseball. Not only did I play baseball, but it wasn't so many summers ago I had the pleasure of being one of the coaches of my son's Little League Team. From that experience I learned some lessons that I think are pertinent today.
A young baseball player is on a spot similar to that of the Christian. The Little Leaguer faces something of a player gap. As the age of eight to twelve the players do not have all of their coordination and have not learned all the tricks and nuances of the game. But they have watched the pros on television. Perhaps, they have actually been to the ball park to watch a game. And there is this gap - actually "chasm" might be a better word. Even the most confident of the 8-year-olds know that the pros are considerably more skilled than they are. What are they going to do about this difference that exists between themselves and the professional? In some ways it's similar to the dilemma many Christians face when they set as their models and examples the great heroines and heroes of the faith.
This morning I would like you to see stances toward Christian faith - and not just coincidentally, Christian Education - that we might take. And since these stances are based on baseball, that great metaphor of life, I invite you to don your coaches' uniform with me.
1.Now, if you watch a young baseball team carefully you will discover that usually, on every team, there is a player who has resolved the problem by doing only that which they can do as well as the big leaguer. The player has a rather idealistic view and only does that which comes easily. This player has discovered that they are able to catch the ball if it comes to him or her gently through the air. So this player goes to the outfield and gets others to hit pop-ups and gentle fly-balls. Baseball becomes a rather repetitious ritual, doing over an over those things which can be done perfectly. At the age of ten the player has stopped growing in the game. And at the age of 20 or 30 that player is still going to be trotting out to the outfield to catch flies.
Sometimes we find people - in the church - or, at times, maybe even ourselves - who approach the Christian life in the same way. For such people, Christianity is only doing those things which can be done easily. They resolve the gap that exists between the ideals of faith and the performance of Christians by saying that those things which they can do easily and well are religious. And you know what that means! Namely, those things they cannot do easily or well are non-religious. Christianity, for them, simply does not apply and ought to stay out of such areas.
Thus, such people feel that Christianity should stay out of social action, politics, and ethical dilemmas. Because people differ on how to approach and respond to the social issues of the day, such decisions should be made outside the realm of faith - and certainly not talked about in church! Such people seem to want to be able to come to God with that which is ideal and perfect - they don't want to face controversy and have to struggle with their faith. Instead they want their faith to have answers - like fielding lazy fly balls.
But there are other types of baseball players - and Christians.
1.If we watch those little leaguers we discover another youngster out there. As a rule we are going to hear from this player before we see them. The player has got stories galore of having played all nine positions on a team on the other side of town. The player lets it be known that when "I am on my game" the other players had better watch out because this player is good, and obviously is not afraid to admit it!
But when the game gets underway, inevitable this player is the first one to make an error. And it is most interesting to see the way it is handled. "The ball took a bad hop." "Somebody else made a mistake." "I wasn't trying my hardest." Or, if the player has a flair for the dramatic, an injury is feigned. For this player, baseball is doing whatever can be done - "at my best!". The player may have even changed the rules of the game a little to bring baseball more into conformity to their particular style of play. But at the age of ten, this player is the personification of Baseball." There is no reason for this player to improve, or to grow into the game, and there is no way that any coach is going to get through. What this player does is baseball. Period.
Now, the problem with that type of person, whether a baseball player or a church-goer, is that they are afraid of making mistakes, and petrified of making an error. This is why they have adopted these postures, and why they have stopped growing.
Many studies have been done on why children fail. It is not that they are bad or lazy. The primary reason is that they are afraid of making mistakes; so afraid that they sometimes become immobilized. We can also see this in adult behavior. What happens if a person in governmental leadership makes a mistake - or, when was the past time you ever hear the president, or a politician say, "I don't know"?
And what happens if an 8-year-old makes a mistake? They may be yanked out of the game. And that is too bad, because if anyone is going to grow in any area of life that person has to be able to make mistakes and learn from them. If anything is worth doing, it is worth doing badly if that is the only way you can do it. I once got a fortune cookie that read, "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from making bad judgments."
We, as disciples of Jesus Christ, need to become a community living in a new way that is different from the way society operates. We call upon the accepting life of Christ to be more supportive, accepting and forgiving of one another.
1.And perhaps this can best be illustrated by still another type of little leaguer. And if we look around we will see this player, and we will see a lot more of this player than we see of others. For somewhere along the line this young baseball player learned what acceptance is. They know that he or she has a lot to learn. They know that however they play in their own frail way is baseball. This player has got a grasp of fundamentals.
This player is not afraid to make a mistake.
For this player, as for many kids, the most difficult aspect of the game is fielding grounders. Ground balls are the ones that skip crazily through the grass and have a tendency to hop right past a little leaguer - or a Red Sox player during the sixth game of the 1986 World Series (who will go unnamed, but his initials are Bill Buckner - I tend to takes such things personally!) At any rate, grounders are not easy to field!
The little leaguer has some problems with grounders, and this player knows it. But they face it, and are not afraid to make mistakes. The player gets the glove, pounds their fist into the pocket of the mitt, grits their teeth because they know the next one hit is going to bounce painfully off her shin, and yet the player still yells, "Hit me grounders!" Sure, many of them will hop on past, but this player begins to grow in the game because the player is disciplining him or herself and practices, unafraid of making mistakes as they refine their technique and learns more of the intricacies of the game.
We, as Christians, are called on to grow. In our Scripture Lesson we read about Jesus when he was of Little League age. And we read that he went to "His Father's House" - perhaps to field some grounders from the wise teachers of His faith. And we read that Jesus grew. "The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon Him." He increased in wisdom and stature and in favor of the Lord. We, like Him, are called to grow in loving and forgiving acceptance.
And so, in the midst of watching and coaching little leaguers practice, there is a lesson for us, both as persons who bring up children, and also for ourselves as we continue to grow. We do not help children by flashing out accomplishments, or by showing them only the things that we do well. This is static and is only a part of us. Children are looking to us to see a model of what growth is all about. Perhaps the worst thing that we can show a child is not the fact that we occasionally fall short of the mark, or of making a mistake, but that when we fall short that we are doing nothing about it. Maybe that's our biggest mistake - doing nothing about our mistakes, or the things that we are not particularly good at. What children need are examples of provide a model of life-long growth, people who are willing to grow, and to learn from their mistakes.
Jesus Christ has accepted us. While we are sinners, He died for us. In His forgiveness and love He is saying to you and to me that making mistakes is okay. Being human is okay. By Christ's love we are freed to grow!
Like the Little Leaguer who went out to field more and more grounders, we, as Christians can know acceptance. We know that we have a lot to learn. And like the Little Leaguer, we can know that what we are doing in our own frail way is Christianity. We have a grasp of the fundamentals.
So, go ahead, hit me some grounders!