Sports as Spiritual Liability

I've discussed interscholastic sports as a distraction to education and a deterrent to physical health.  Now I want to look at the spiritual and social aspects of them.

Before I go on, I should say that there are a lot of sports in our society, and I enjoy watching professional games (mostly hockey).  You can't wipe them all out, nor is there any need.  But in our schools, the activities we provide teach lessons, sometimes unintended.

I would argue that focusing so much on sports promotes a point of view that is spiritually and socially unhealthy.  What is it?  That to be successful in life one must win -- beat the other -- that life is a zero sum game and if I get ahead, it is always at your expense.

Think about some of the phrases we've learned over the years -- phrases, I'm sad to say, that have been repeated by school coaches around the country for years:  "Winning isn't the main thing, it's the only thing" or "Second place is first loser" or even "We're number one."

I remember chanting those things back in school -- it was fun.  But think of that:  "We're number one."  Number one?  Sure, maybe on that day we played a better game of basketball, but number one?  There's always someone who can and will beat you.  To think we should take our identity from the outcome of a game we didn't even play and that could just as easily have gone a different way is silly.

But more importantly, it's dangerous to our souls.  I remember driving past a VA Hospital once, and a banner read, "Thanks to our Veterans, We're number 1."  Sadly, too many of us think of international politics as a sport.  Our country's best.  We can whoop you.  You other countries are losers.

We see it at every level:  interpersonal, business, politics (where you have to destroy your opponent even if you agree on 90% of the issues).  Our focus on sports isn't on having fun and being physically active, it's on beating the other.  

That's why we keep records and standings.  That's why High Schools across the country hang banners from the rafters that proudly proclaim, "Conference Champions, 1994."  It shows that they were winners.

All in all, the emphasis on winning defeats our very souls.  I've heard far too many adults say that the sports teach kids about real life -- kids getting cut from the team just makes them realize that tough things happen.  That losing happens, and you just pick yourself up and move on so you can win the next time.  Well, that's fine, and I agree that part of our job as adults is to teach our kids how to move on from the inevitable failings and disappointments we face.

But I disagree that our purpose is to beat the other.  That our business can only succeed by driving the competition out of business -- or at least by being Number 1.  I disagree with politicians who tell us that compromise is wishy washy or not being true to core values.  

I disagree with those who say we must be the best.  There is not such thing.  Only God is best.  The rest of us are here to learn from each other, to help each other and to cooperate.  Sports can be fun, but they are not the way to proceed in life.  

Many say that sports teach teamwork -- well, so does working together on a project in school.  But a project in school does not teach us to work against others, and our sports fascination does.  When we see our goal as beating the other, we have fallen into spiritual illness, and that's not something we should be teaching in our schools.

Sports as Detriment to Health

Yesterday, I spoke about sports as a distraction to education.  But I know parents who say they need interscholastic sports because it keeps their kids physically fit.  Bunk!

I would argue that interscholastic sports does more harm to the physical health of many more kids than it helps.  How can that be?  Well, think about it.

How many kids take part in interscholastic sports teams?  On average, it's about ten percent.  Ten percent of a 1200 population school is about 120 students.  Often, even with several teams, you see the same kids playing several sports.  Now, the numbers might shift here and there, but the main point is, it is a small minority of students who participate in the teams.

These are teams, by the way, that you have to try out for, so you might get cut if you aren't good enough.  Which means in this context that even if you want to play, you don't necessarily get to.  

For the most part, it's pretty clear that sports will improve the health of those who are on the team.  But the rest of the school isn't.  Instead, they are encouraged to sit and watch others play (that's school spirit, after all).  Our focus on teams means that if we are to be good students, we sit and passively watch.  We instill this philosophy that says, "If you're not the best, don't bother" -- and let me tell you, we have generations (not just the current one) of kids who don't and didn't bother.  These teams don't encourage kids to get out there and get active.  They tell them not to bother. 

They create a class of kids who are the designated athletes and tell everyone else to give up.  Which, for the most part, they do.  If you want a population of physically fit people, that's no way to get the job done.  If you only want a few VERY fit people, then keep at it.

On the other hand, I'm not sure interscholastic sports is all that good for the jocks themselves.  I remember going to my 20^th High School reunion a few years back and not even recognizing some of my classmates.  The guy who went to state in wrestling was fat and had already had a heart attack.  They star of the football team looked pastey-faced and worn out.  A lot of the jocks were still in good shape, but I was amazed  how many weren't -- they left school and never found the old glory again, so gave up.

There were others who just got sick of it because of the pressure.  In fact, studies recently showed that a lot of kids quit sports teams because it's just too much stress -- or because they get injured, sometimes permanently.  

I'm not saying that interscholastic sports is the only culprit, but I think they're a good place to start.  What if we put our emphasis on everyone doing some sort of activity -- walking for example -- instead of the few who are really good at a thing.  Because, let's face it, our lives AFTER sports are a lot longer than our lives as athletes.  But we can remain physically active all our lives if we are taught the value of it.  It would make sense for schools to focus on the longterm health of all the students.

Sports as Distraction

Yesterday, I said interscholastic sports ate up a lot of money that could be used for actual education and that they did not serve a valid educational purpose (or at the least, not a very cost effective one).

Today, I'll look at the first of three reasons school boards ought to consider dumping them altogether from our school budgets.  First, a disclaimer.  I was a high school athlete.  I lettered in wrestling.  My brother lettered in track, cross country and wrestling -- and he went to state.  I enjoyed those sports as far as they went.

But would my school experience have been better without them?  Hard to say.  After I graduated from high school, I was lucky enough to go to Germany as an exchange student.  Yes, it was in a high school, but Germany at the time had thirteen years of high school, so it worked out fine.  

I noticed three things right away about German schools*.  First, they go from 7^th grade through 13^th grade.  Second, I noticed the teachers were called "Professor" and accorded much higher respect than in our country.  I found out they also only taught about two classes a day.  Third, I noticed there were no school sports teams and no "school spirit."  I had a hard time trying to explain school spirit to them.

And yet, their school worked.  In fact, German kids still score much higher than American kids.  Now, I was in those classrooms for a long time and assure you, the quality of teaching was no better there than here.

But, one factor is that they were not distracted by the sports.  They did not have rallies to get the student body pumped up to win the big game.  They did not have cheer leaders running around in short skirts (which as a high school kid I did not mind but did find a bit distracting).  They did not have the jocks parading around in their uniforms on game day, or banners saying "Go Generals!"

By the way, didn't you always hate those jocks?  They were popular, sometimes quite smart but just as often dumb as a brick, and could get away with anything.  In the hierarchy of sports, football players were king followed by baskeball, baseball, and track and field and wrestlers.  But all of us got a pass when it came to getting away with things.

They just went to school.  And I'll tell you, it was a happier, more relaxed bunch of kids at the German school than my old high school.  Now, you could argue that because this was a college-geared school, that other schools would do more poorly and have worse behavior problems.  Wrong.  No matter what level, kids performed better and got along better.  

Do I want us to become just like the German schools?  NO!  We're different, and there are some great things we have.  But I do think we should learn from them (and others), and see where we can make changes that work.  When you think about it, it's not just the Germans who don't have interscholastic sports.  Almost nobody else in the world does.  They have sports clubs that are unaffiliated with the schools.  Let's do that here.

I can't say that eliminating interscholastic sports will turn schools around overnight or that they are the only thing that needs changing. But these are SCHOOLS we're talking about, not sports academies.  Their purpose is to teach, to pass information from one generation to another, to prepare the entire student body to make it in life as adults; and interscholastic sports don't do that.  

About all they really do is get in the way of schools actually doing their jobs.

*German schools at the time were divided into three groups.  Hauptschule, which went from 7^th through 9^th grade and were for kids who wanted to go into the trades.  After 9^th grade, they went into apprenticeships.  Realschule, which went from 7^th through 10^th and were for kids who chose the skilled professions such as nursing.  After 10^th grade they typically went to training institutes.  The Gymnasium, which I attended, was for university-bound students.  There was a forth type which I hear is more common now: Gesamtschule, which incorporates all three into one 7^th-12^th grade school, much like here.

School Budget

Our School budget vote went down in defeat two days ago.  I am disappointed because it was one of the smaller budget increases in our area as well as in recent years.  I know people are sick and tired of paying property taxes, but few seem to realize that school is an investment in the community's ongoing health.

In our district, we automatically go to a contingency budget if the proposed budget fails.  I took a look at it.  The sorts of things that are cut are field trips (which I think are particularly good for kids), hoped-for additional staff like a librarian, certian intramural sports, that sort of thing.  It's a long list because all the cuts are rather small -- $30,000 here, $5,000 there.  They needed to cut more than half a million.

Well, I have a sure-fire idea to get the budget passed next year -- and to make contingency budget planning much easier.  Rather than cut out many educationally enriching (but not state mandated) initiatives why not get rid of most of that money in one big chunk -- interscholastic sports?  If my numbers are right, our district spends about half a million -- that's $500,000 -- on interscholastic sports.  Perfect fit.

The reason it would guarantee passage is because nobody wants to lose their sports.  Get rid of music!  Get rid of art!  Get rid of special ed and the library and field trips but NOT our sports!  Some kid out there might get a scholarship to a school some day!

I'm telling you, if you make a contingency budget without interscholastic sports, people will pass any budget you give them the first time.  Because that's where people's hearts are.  After all, these sports get 10% of the student body up and moving, and they instill "School Spirit" (whatever that is), and we almost went to the state finals last year! 

But when you think about it, why are those sports in the budget in the first place?  What have they got to do with education?  If you want to talk scholarships, why not improve the educational input of the school so that, say, five percent more of the total student body gets academic scholarships rather than one percent of those ten percent of students who play sports?

I bet you could do a longitudinal study showing that schools without interscholastic sports do better academically than similar schools with such programs. Why?  Because the sports are a distraction from the main purpose of the schools.  Not only that, but they actually discourage phyisical health for the larger portion of the school.  And on a larger, more spiritual level, they teach our children to work against each other than with each other (despite talk of teamwork).

Over the next three days, I'm going to make my arguments about why interscholastic sports are more harmful than helpful.  In the meantime, budget planners -- think about cutting them from your contingency budget.  I guarantee you'll get whatever you want in the vote.

COMMUNITY OF LOVE - A Sermon

Today is Trinity Sunday.  You might know that already, in which case you'll know that Trinity Sunday is the only Feast Day of the year that doesn't commemorate a person or event either in scripture or the life of the church.

No, Trinity Sunday celebrates an idea.  Or maybe it's more acurate to say a relationship.

You can actually find a reference or two in the bible to the three members of the Trinity, but you'll never hear the word, and you'll not see a statement that says all three are God.  All one God yet all unuque and individual.  That's the concept:  God is one but made of three persons.

It took a long time for the church to come down to that formulation, one of the things they decided at the Nicene Council of 325 AD. 

You see, the problem is, it's really hard to grasp the idea of God being anything other than a single person.  Up until Jesus, people either had an individual God or lots of separate gods.  What WE have is neither.

What we have is an eternal relationship.  We are the only religion in the world where God isn't a person.  God is Love.  The Father loves the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son loves Father and the Holy Spirit, and the the Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son.  Always and forever.

It's Christian belief that if the three of them were not together, there would be no God.  Without this Community of Love, there would be no anything.

Because it's that loving relationship between Father Son and Holy Spirit that was able to get together and say, "Let's make something.  Something we can love together."  We are the result of that love.

That's why we have as the summary of our law that one word:  Love.  That's why we call ourselves a community of love.  It's not because we're all just dreamy-eyed unrealistic idealists who want to avoid conflict at all costs.  It's because there is nothing else -- not if we have any hope of knowing God.

The problem with the Trinity, with this Community of Love, is that the very concept changes everything for us.  If God is just a single person -- God the Father, let's say -- then there's no need for love.  God is all there is, and everything else is below him.  We should be afraid because we are nothing, can never be anything to him other than perhaps a pet.  A lone God cannot love because the concept of love requires equal partners.  

If it's not one God but several gods -- well you know mythology.  All that is is a reflection of how humans bicker and fight, but with super powers.  We should be afraid because they're too caught up in their own soap operas to care about us.  Which they don't in the mythologies.

But if God is a community of love -- and if it's that relationship that makes God -- then we can rejoice because all God can do in relationship to us is love.  As we discussed last week, that means to seek the highest good.

And if we want to know God, there's only one course of action for us.  To love.  To seek the highest good for all.  It's not wimpy -- it's the bravest action there is.  Because, for some reason, it's always easier to lash out, to get revenge, to destroy than it is to build up, to show patience, and to forgive. 

So, if we are Trinitarians, there's only one course of action -- to love.  You might get sick of me saying it, but there is nothing else.  It's a simple concept and eternally difficult to live out.  

That's why we have the church -- to place where we can become the community of love in a world that doesn't always acknowledge God as Love.  Christianity is a relational faith -- Christians are all about that relationship with God and each other.  That's why we say there can't be any "lone ranger" Christians.  It's not about experiencing the divine in nature -- it's beautiful but not relational love.  To be a Christian means to be with others who commit themselves to loving God.

That's the Trinity.  Simple yet unfathomable.  An idea that isn't exactly stated in Scripture but that evolved once we understood that God is more complex than just a big guy in the clouds.  God is a community, a relationship -- or nothing.  

In the same way we, the church, are nothing -- unless we live our lives as the community of love.  Amen.

Empowered for What? -- A Sermon

Happy Pentecost.  And Happy Mother's Day.  One quick word about Mother's Day.  It's a day we tell Mom we love her and maybe take her to lunch -- for most folks, it's a fairly happy day.  For some, those who have had difficult relationships with their moms, or have lost them recently, or mothers who have lost a child -- it can be a difficult day.  But one thing we can remember -- whether your experiences have been beautiful and loving or distant and painful -- all moms have at least one significant role in our lives -- they give birth to us.

And each of us is here to live life as God desires.  So live that life well.

Now, speaking of giving birth, we know that the feast of Pentecost is the "Birthday of the Church."  We call it that because it was this day when the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and empowered them to be more than a mere collection of believers.  They went out into the world preaching, teaching, healing and really and truly being the church.

But look at the different things we get out of this infusion of the Holy Spirit, this rush of wind and this fire.  We get disciples speaking in different languages -- sort of an anti-tower-of babel where everyone can be understood again.  (Like the internet today where anyone anywhere can make themselves heard anywhere else in the world).  We get, as the prophet Joel says, prophesy from pretty much everyone.  We get, as Paul says, a variety of gifts: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing and so on.  And of course, Jesus tells the disciples of perhaps the most important power, the power to forgive.

So, in this one moment, these disciples -- and by extension, you and I -- get a wide range of powers.  We are empowered.  You have at least some of these powers.  I have at least some.  We -- the church -- have them together.  And what shall we do with them?  

Because power -- even wonderful power -- can be squandered or abused if it's not understood.  

Paul gives us a hint about what we are empowered for.  In his letter to the Corinthians, he's addressing that very question:  Who has what power?  What power is better?  And What do we do with it?

Specifically, he was dealing with one group of folks who felt that their ability to "speak in tongues" made them extra special, more holy.*  To answer that, he said, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

That is, no matter how God has blessed you, no matter how holy you are, no matter what gifts you have -- as wonderful as they are -- your gifts are for the common good.

This week at our Confirmation Class we talked about ethics.  We said Christian ethics are different from just plain old ethics in that we have the great commandment as our bottom line.  Everything we do must first ask, "Is it the loving thing to do?"  We batted around the word "Love" for awhile but came up with a working definition that "Love seeks the highest good for everyone involved."

In other words, the common good.

Which is a roundabout way of saying that we are empowered -- more powerful than we probably know -- but not nothing.  This day when we once again remember that we are tied together by the Holy Spirit, that we are filled with that Spirit, that we are empowered -- it's also a day when we remember what all that power is for.

To help this family be healthy in its life with Christ, and then to share that highest good with the world.  Think of all those gifts:  languages, healing, prophecy, teaching -- they are meant to be shared, they are meant to lift up and strengthen not just our own family but those we've never seen or met, those who are near and those who are far.  Because Pentecost tells us that we are all connected like a rosary by the string of the Holy Spirit -- so everything we do through the Holy Spirit is for the common good.

Happy Birthday to the Church.  We have the power of the Holy Spirit and we know how we're meant to use it.  The next steps are up to us. 

*(If you don't know what speaking in tongues is, it's basically a form of ecstatic spiritual experience where the person starts speaking in a nonexistent language.  Problem is, the more people thought it made them special, the more people who miraculously got touched with this gift.  Paul essentially said, unless you've got an interpreter and a message for the whole church, do your speaking in tongues at home).

Two Eyes

There are so many huge things going on in our world today:  The election, the war, the horrible disaster in Myanmar.  I'm thinking of a small thing -- an itty bitty thing that affects nobody else but me.  And yet, as John Adams was reported to say in his last days, as we age, our worlds shrink, and the big seems not so important, while the minute assumes great significance.

Or maybe I'm just being self-centered.

Either way, I'm thinking about my new contact lenses.  I've been wearing glasses for about 41 years.  This week I got fitted for contact lenses and am wearing them as I write.  I can't say it's a horrible experience, but I can't say it's entirely pleasant either.

In fact, if I hadn't closed the bathroom door while putting them in, my kids might have learned a few new words and then been grounded for repeating them.  Taking them out is even harder.  

At times, I hardly noticing they are there and wondering that I can see without that burdensome frame resting on my face.  I look around and think, "Everywhere I look is clear."  At other times, it seems hard to see straight at all -- things get blurry, my eyes itch, and I blink every second-and-a-half.  

What was my motivation, in middle age, for contacts?  Well, swimming (with goggles only, the opthamologist says), and hockey.  I've long wanted to swim and see what's down under the water.  A couple of years ago we had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go snorkeling in the Bahamas, and all that beauty lay there waiting for us to take it it.  All I could see was the little fish who deigned to come close.

When I play hockey, I'm good for about five minutes before my glasses begin to fog up.  This is one way to be able to see the game.  

Most troubling about the experiment (aside from the money), is that I constantly feel my face for where my glasses should be.  It's like something has been amputated.  As irritating and painful (especially to my ears) as glasses have been, it seems they are part of me, and I'm having a hard time letting go.

Oh well, letting go is always a challenge for us, isn't it?  But to let go of one thing we're used to (even if it's painful or even harmful) opens up for us opportunities, and the idea of seeing even under water means something to me.

By the way, another thing these contacts have done:  for the first time in my adult life, I was able to look in the mirror and see my own face, all by itself.  Regardless of how the experiment turns out, that's exciting.

Becoming Ourselves - A Sermon

Back in the days of BC -- that's Before Children -- I got the notion to take flying lessons.  Flying in a small plane in beautiful.  You're at 5,000 feet, your instructor's at your side.  You're making the plane do what you want...  One day, we finished a lesson, and I had made a really good three-point landing.  When I stopped the plane, my instructor, Nick told me not to cut the engine, then he hopped out.

"What're you doing?" I shouted over the engine.  

"It's time," he said.  "You're soloing."

"Now?"

"Now."

In case you hadn't guessed, soloing means piloting a plane for the first time all alone -- with nobody else in the plane.  My heart stopped.  I wasn't ready.  What if I did something wrong?  What if I crashed?  Nick shut the door, smiled, and waved.  I taxied back to the runway, cursing Nick all the way for leaving me alone in this death trap.  Then -- for better or worse -- I took off.

I only flew around the airport and made a couple of what they call touch-and-go landings -- you land and take right off again.  But after the first landing, Nick's voice came over my headset:  "You might want to retract your flaps."  I don't want go into what flaps do, but NOT retracting them would have been bad.

At the end of it all, I got out of the plane, shaking like a leaf, and there was Nick, a big smile on his face.  "Great job!" he said.  "Now you're a pilot."

That's an experience most of us have in some way or other.  When you learn how to ride a bike, eventually Mom or Dad lets go, and you're soloing.  When you graduate from High School -- as several of our young folks are doing this year -- you leave home for the first time and venture out.  

Or when you're a disciple, and Jesus says, "you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now," and then leaves -- takes off into the sky and disappears.

It says they just stared up into the sky, but I bet they were screaming in their heads, "Wait!  You can't leave!  We're not ready!  Why are you leaving us?"

Why indeed?  Why DID Jesus leave the disciples just forty days after his glorious resurrection?  After all, he had proven his point.  He had already defeated death, shown his divinity, changed forever the way we relate with God.  Why not stay with his disciples and help them get the church going properly?  I mean, forty days isn't a lot of time.

On the other hand, if he had not left, would they have ever said they were ready?  Would they have ever quit looking to him, asking, "Is this how we do it, Lord?"  Can you imagine a child learning to ride the bike -- and the parent NEVER let go?  There might not be any cut knees or bruised shins, but the child would never really ride the bike.

Nobody can truly become themselves until they are cut loose, with all the risks involved.

So, what was it that the disciples were becoming?  Nothing less that the Body of Christ.  As Jesus told them, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  The Body of Christ, the Church, the followers who live out Christ's love and share it with a broken world.

After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples were left staring up at the sky.  The angels who came asked, "What're you looking up there for?  Jesus is gone."  They were saying, "It's time to become who you were meant to be.  NOW you are true disciples."

Jesus had to leave so they could grow up.  And they did.  They left rejoicing, ready to face the new world ahead.  To be the Body of Christ.

Today, WE are Christ's Body.  If we want, we can stare up at the sky, too, waiting to see Christ coming down again, never doing anything because we don't know if it we'll mess up.  OR, we fly.  We can take the risk of acting like Christ, of being his witnesses in a frightened world.   And we do so knowing that right here we will find enough guidance and grace and support to keep us in the air.

Remember how I made that first landing and forgot to retract the flaps?  But that voice came over the headphones and reminded me.  Even more than that, the voice told me that I wasn't as alone as I thought I was.  Someone was still watching me.

Jesus told the disciples that he would not leave them alone, either.  The Holy Spirit would come and give them strength.  Not the same as the instructor being in the seat next to you, perhaps, but everything we need to fully become ourselves.  Amen.