by Fr. Dennis Lynch
When I was young, I played a lot of baseball so when I recently watched the Little League World Series, I had many wonderful memories. I remembered the first time I batted in an organized game; I struck out and went back to the bench and cried. My father was there and he consoled me on the way home. As I improved, I was able to be part of the A team, which today would be called the “traveling” team. Being on the A team meant that we had complete uniforms while the B teams had only T-shirts. The suits were a symbol of pride but they were made of wool. We were very hot, but no one complained!
The supervision of all our activities were part of the city’s park system. We didn’t have many coaches, unlike today where parents play a major role in coaching. Today, both girls and boys play on Little League teams. I also watched some of the girls’ World Series. It’s always a delight to see the energy and talent of the youth as they navigate the agony of losing and the ecstasy of winning.
I think it is safe to say, sports is a dominant influence in our current culture, but sports metaphors are also found in the Bible. Of course, Jesus didn’t spend His leisure time tossing the football around with his disciples, but St. Paul used sports images to encourage the churches to which he wrote letters. In his first letter to the Church in Corinth, he wrote, “Do you not know that in a race, all the runners compete but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and subdue it, lest after my preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:24-27)
When writing to Timothy, Paul reminded him, that like the rules in sports, our spiritual lives are to be characterized by integrity and honesty. “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:5) And the author of the Letter to the Hebrews uses the sports metaphor to encourage his readers to remove anything that distracts them from living the best for God. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. (Heb.12:1-2)
I remember seeing on one church’s exterior billboard the following sports metaphor- “Even stars need coaches!” It was a stark reminder that in our spiritual life, especially there, we need and rely on the support and guidance of God’s grace and the witness of other believers. Regardless of how advanced we “think” our relationship with Jesus is, we always need to come to Him with an open and humble heart to hear His coaching wisdom in the race of life.