Basketball and Church

So far so good with the New Year’s goals.

Brian and I went on a double date with our friends, Todd & Selena Hing. We hit happy hour at Chili’s then took the Max down to the Rose Garden for the Blazer game (against the New York Knicks).

We had SWEET seats (section 113, row H… that’s about 13 rows back from the court). Too bad it was the lamest game ever. Blazers lost.

Good thing we didn’t buy the tickets. The owner of Brian’s company gave them to Todd and Brian. The price of Brian and my tickets alone could have paid a car payment. Oh well… at least we had a date and it was fun.

During the game, there were these two guys sitting behind us that kept yelling profanity and ridiculous things like, "YOU SUCK, EDDY CURRY!!!". The ironic thing was this: Curry was the one making the majority of the points for the Knicks. They’re goal was to defame him for the victory of their home team.

Those two Portland fans, as well meaning as they were, were being complete idiots. They were yelling untruths and the profanity was extremely uncalled for, especially since there were two young children sitting in the row in front of them.

Everyone’s goal there was the same: to play/watch basketball. It’s a game. It’s to be enjoyed. However, passionate fans can sometimes lose that perspective and start personally attacking their players. They forget that these players train hard, have a crazy game schedule and do the best they can in the situation.

This makes me think of church members.

Seriously, bear with me for a second (or stop reading. I’m not the boss of you so you can do whatever you please). I truly believe we as Christ followers mean well and want the best for our church. We focus in and cheer for our team. But then, sometimes, in our zeal, we become too focused on certain teams (like other churches) or players (like church leaders) and start "yelling" untruths about the players.

I’ve done this. We’ve ALL done this.

For example… we forget that our church is not the ONLY church in the area. We close in and start to look at other churches as competition because it’s not OUR church. In the Bible, it says there is only ONE church. Christ’s church. We’ve made a competition out of it. How sad.

Here’s another example… LET’S JUST SAY a church member saw pictures of a get together. The people that attended this get together are very close friends. All are also church members, some MAY even be leaders of the church. Pictures show them having a good time. But then, something in context in person becomes OUT OF CONTEXT third person. Since this member wasn’t there, he/she doesn’t know what to make of it.

Instead of following Matthew 18 and approaching the person(s) in question, this "well-meaning" member skips the order of things and begins "yelling" untruths to others. He/She failed to remember that these "players" have been training all season (if not longer). Nevermind that these "players" have scored more points in the game than anyone else. It doesn’t matter… let’s just yell.

I also see (and have been guilty of) people using "prayer requests" as a way to gossip. Come on… you’ve done it. It sounds a little like this:

"My friend, JohnJacobJingleHeimerSchmidt, got the clap somehow and needs prayer for healing. I’m not really sure HOW he got it, but he did. I’m SURE he got it from using a public restroom. Isn’t that how you usually get the clap? Let’s pray!"

Why do we do that? Why do we feel a need to bring up the worst in other people in order to make ourselves feel better?

I’m not saying any of this has ever happened. It’s just an example.

Really… We’re just here for basketball.

If Eddy Curry had a chance to be face-to-face with this fan, I wonder if this fan would still be yelling? If I were Eddy, I’d probably punch the fan in the face. And that’s why I’m not Eddy… and why I have #37 up on my New Years Goals.

Oh well. Basketball is a full contact sport. Players are gonna get hurt. I guess the safest place to be is in the stands… yelling… where you think no one can see you.