(Below is one of the very first sermons I preached at my church. The UCC likes when lay people share their faith!)
Did God Invent Baseball?
Two old guys, Abe and Sol, are sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons and talking about baseball, like they do every day.
Abe turns to Sol and says, "Do you think there's baseball in heaven?"
Sol thinks about it for a minute and replies, "I dunno. But let's make a deal: if I die first, I'll come back and tell you if there's baseball in heaven, and if you die first, you do the same.
They shake on it and sadly, a few months later, poor Abe passes on.
One day soon afterward, Sol is sitting there feeding the pigeons by himself when he hears a voice whisper, "Sol...Sol”
Sol responds, "Abe! Is that you?"
"Yes it is, Sol," whispers Abe's ghost.
Sol, still amazed, asks, "So, is there baseball in heaven?”
"Well," says Abe, "I've got good news and bad news.”
"Gimme the good news first," says Sol.
Abe says, "Well... there is baseball in heaven.”
Sol says, "That's great! What news could be bad enough to ruin that!?"
Abe sighs and whispers, "You're pitching on Friday."
I grew up surrounded by sports, especially baseball. My dad was a die-hard Yankee fan who had season tickets to every Saturday home game and he even went to a Yankee Fantasy camp in Florida. My brothers both played in Little League and my dad played softball in the Danbury Industrial league.
As children, the neighborhood kids were always playing baseball in backyards and in cul-de-sacs. One summer, we cleared a patch of land in the woods behind our house, to make our own ball field. We spent days using our dad’s saws to take down saplings, shovels to clear away rocks and rakes for making base paths. We even made benches. We were very proud of ourselves. It wasn’t a perfect baseball diamond but we loved it.
It was ours – a patch of land in the middle of the woods. A place where we could be kids, a place close enough to hear if our moms called us in for dinner, yet hidden from grown-up eyes. A place where we could laugh, make up our own rules and just have fun. It was our own “Field of Dreams.”
In the movie, The Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, hears a voice saying, “build it and they will come.” Not unlike Noah hearing a voice on a clear sunny day saying “build an ark” for the coming flood. The movie encourages us to believe…believe in ourselves and others. To believe in our dreams. To believe that love conquers all. To believe in a power greater than our own. To believe in God…
So – back to my Dad. He wasn’t anybody famous and he didn’t make a lot of money. He was an ordinary guy who spent time with his family and always tried to do the right thing. He wasn’t very religious, but he helped out in the community by serving on Town Boards and working with Brotherhood in Action. He taught us kids to give back to our town and to help those in need. Oh – and he believed in the Church of Baseball.
Annie Savoy, played by Susan Sarandon, makes this old fashioned testimony of faith in the opening narrative of the film Bull Durham:
“I believe in the Church of Baseball. I’ve tried all major religions and most of the minor ones. I’ve worshipped Buddha, Allah, Shiva, trees, mushrooms and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that – I gave Jesus a chance…But it just didn’t work out between us. The Lord lay too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology…I’ve tried them all – I really have – and the only church that truly feeds the soul day in and day out, is the Church of Baseball.”
For me, the Church of Baseball is slightly different. I believe that Baseball dramatically represents some of life’s most important lessons.
Lesson 1 : Baseball is about falling short of perfection.
In Hebrews, the Law is discussed as a standard of perfection that is impossible to meet. All we can do is strive to be our very best. We cannot succeed unless we try. Mickey Mantle struck out 1,710 times in his career, and is considered one of the all times greatest players. Think about it – he struck out 1 out of every fives times at bat. One out of every five. 20% of the time he failed – but he was not a failure. Baseball players are guaranteed to fail more often than they succeed. They are judged by, and cannot escape from, their statistics. God however, does not judge us by how many times we succeed or fail. He loves us despite how many times we succeed or fail.
Lesson 2: Baseball is about the grace of second chances.
Baseball is a game with no clock. There is always time for redemption. For example, San Francisco Giant Bob Brenley made four errors in one inning. Later in the game he hit two home runs, including the game winner. Paul made a lot of errors in his life, but Jesus found him and turned his life around. Jesus himself spent most of his time with people who had gone 0 for 4 in life. With Christ, as with baseball, we will always have another chance.
Lesson 3: Baseball is about perseverance.
It took forty years for Moses to lead the people of Israel to the land of Canaan. Let’s imagine for a moment some of the feelings the Israelites may have had during these forty years. There was joy and disappointment. There was hope and despair. Despite all they went through, Moses was determined to listen to the Lord and lead the people to freedom.
Now let’s more than double those forty years and look at a longer journey – a journey that lasted eighty-six years. Again, there was joy and disappointment. Again, there was hope and despair. Yet there was always determination. Yes, I am speaking of the time it took for the Boston Red Sox to win another World Series Championship. If this journey doesn’t teach us about perseverance, I’m not sure what does.
Baseball is a spiritual metaphor.
Those summer days on the makeshift ball diamond taught us kids numerous more lessons. Many of which are paralleled in the bible:
Baseball teaches us to try your best, no matter what. In I Samuel, Chapter 17, David defeats Goliath against all odds. He knew that the Lord was with him.
Baseball teaches us to pay attention or you will get hurt. Titus, Chapter 3 provides us standards of Christian Conduct – ways in which we should respond to situations and people.
As children we are taught to listen to the big kids – they’ve already made mistakes and we can learn from them. After his conversion, Paul spent the rest of his life teaching Gentiles how to be good Christians. He had learned from his own mistakes.
Don’t brag too much when you win – you could lose tomorrow. Remember, Samson lost his strength after being arrogant with the Philistines.
Stay in the base lines and you will be okay – In other words, follow the Ten Commandments.
Think about it – these aren’t just guidelines for baseball – they are guidelines for life. They are guidelines taught to us in Sunday school when we were young and in Confirmation class as we grew older. We learn these lessons every Sunday in church and in bible study classes on Wednesdays. These guidelines are there for us every day of our lives – just as God is.
So, did God invent baseball? Well, popular tradition says that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday at Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1839. I’d like to think that God had a little hand it. Amen.
(Sermon preached by Lori Cipot Summer 2006)
