Faith in the Clubhouse

While it's not lectionary related, another news story caught my interest and I feel prompted to post it. Sox Credit Faith for Inner Strength was in today's Portland Press Herald. Author Kevin Thomas offers his assessment of how faith interacts with sports, in particularly in the Red Sox Clubhouse.

I'm not typically a fan of public figures and pop-stars giving lip-service to God when they receive their five minutes of fame. While I'm sure that many of them are very sincere in their desire to give glory to God, it seems that many others are simply giving a canned response which is not reflected in their career or lifestyle.

At the same time, there are the occassional figures who not only appear to be extremely sincere with their thanksgivings, but also seem to live a life which is consistent with their words. Curt Schilling is one athlete who seems to fit in this category, and I appreciate that this was recognized by members of the media.

When Schilling spoke of his faith after that game, one reporter who did not edit Schilling's comments was Peter Gammons of ESPN. Gammons has heard plenty of those "I-thank-God" introductions, but he knew Schilling was not just giving a line.

"He said it differently," Gammons remembered. "Some guys don't mean to, but they make it sound as if God is cheering for them.

"I thought 'Schill' really defined what it is to be a Christian. You're not asking God to pick you over the other guy. You ask Him for the strength to go out and do whatever you can."

There's a great lesson about prayer here. Too often our prayers are "make the problem go away" or "Lord, please make this happen." The example given here is that perhaps our prayers shoudl be "Lord, give me the grace to get through this and do my best. Please guide my every step."

Somehow, my sense is that even had the Sox lost that game, Schilling could have still said, "God is good, and He helped me through the night."

Perhaps God is less about winning and losing, and more about helping us to grow.

Grace and Peace,

PastorJon