Category: Foundations

December 18^th I went in for what I thought was going to be a routine knee scope to repair a few minor meniscus tears. Once in the knee they discovered two areas where the cartilage had been severely damaged. Fortunately, they were able to repair these spots with cartilage grafts. The recovery process for the grafts is much more tedious than a meniscus fix. So I’ve spent the majority of my Christmas holiday on the couch with my foot up, periodically icing my knee. In addition, I have before me a somewhat long and painstaking recovery process. When you go through something like this you can’t help but be reminded of just how fragile we are. Christians understand that human fragility in all its forms, physical and mental, is a consequence of the “Fall”. Sin’s effect was cataclysmic and cosmic in its scope; leaving no area in God’s good creation untarnished. As a result of the Fall our God given human capabilities become even more limited and problematic. All athletes (and every human being) are faced with “sin’s” consequences, and there are times we must learn to deal with them by putting our trust and hope in God, and then there are other times that we must seek to overcome them with God’s help.

I’m certain we would have a fun discussion trying to imagine what it might be like to be an athlete in an un-fallen world. One of the aspects that we would need to keep in mind with our imaginative construal is that there would still be limitations by the mere fact that we are created humans and not God – contingent beings. For instance, we would continue to be bound by the laws of the created universe (e.g. gravity). How exactly an un-fallen creature experiences these laws or natural inclinations would be at the heart of our discussion. Presumably according to Scripture, Adam and Eve hungered and ate before the Fall. Again the question centers around how they experienced hunger and how they experienced being satiated in the pre-fallen state. From my perspective, the difficulty we face in this imaginative construal is that all we have ever known and experienced is a “fallen” world. Also, I think it is hard for us to understand, to see, or to know the extent of sin’s effect on the cosmic order. In other words, our imagination itself has taken a hit. Nevertheless, I believe there are some things that we have come to realize about sin’s effect. The Fathers of the church spoke about three interrelated areas of the fallen condition, ones that are important for a Christian athlete to keep in mind.

In the fallen state there are certain physical/bodily shortcomings. As a result of the Fall we are subject to tiredness, exhaustion, injury and physical pain. In addition, we are liable to disease (cancer, MS, etc…) and certain genetic dispositions. We age; it’s the process of decay and one that is impossible to escape. And finally we are given to bodily death. All of these things were not God’s original intention for us but are the consequence of the Fall. Athletes spend a great deal of careers battling against these bodily shortcomings; in many ways these are one of the day-to-day enemies that we seek to overcome.

A second area, and one that I think that is often overlooked by athletes, are the shortcomings that have arisen in our moral nature due to the Fall. Morality encompasses our dispositions and states of mind. Sin’s effect renders us “subject to boredom, depression, listlessness (apathy), and lack of concentration.” Also we are given over to “lapses in memory” (the great Saints of the Church contend that man’s greatest sin is forgetfulness – forgetting God). Furthermore we constantly deal with “inner dividedness, weakness of will and moral paralysis.” St Paul himself tells us in Romans (7:18-24) that he often found himself doing exactly what he did not want to do. I can’t help but think about how many times as an athlete it was these moral aspects that actually hindered more than my physical limitations from achieving my athletic goals… lost focus, commitment, fortitude, and resolve. Being moral they are also spiritual in nature and in need of redemption and transformation.

The third area the Fathers spoke about when considering the effects of the Fall is our inherited sinful nature. Of course this is one that we Christians are acutely aware of; we are sinners. We are born into a world in which it is easy for us to do evil and hard for us to good; we are inclined towards what is sinful. Christ came into the world to save sinners – to restore our relationship with God. You and I live into this salvation by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. Through baptism we are cleansed of this original guilt, forgiven our sins, and empowered to live in love and obedience to God. After baptism, we are able to sin and not to sin with the positive goal of growing more and more into His likeness each day (1 John 2:1). All to often we Christians take this grace for granted by say things like, “I’m only human”, or “that’s how I was made”, or “God knows I’m a sinner”. We make excuses for our sins, and when we do that we underestimate (take for granted) God’s transformative grace. We forget that in Baptism we are made a new creature – renewed in the image of the Risen Christ – and set free from sin. In John 8, Jesus instructed the woman that had been caught in adultery to “go and sin no more”. I think he meant what he said! Like her, we too have been forgiven with the expectation (and capability) to “sin” no more.

Unfortunately, we are not yet totally free from the ability to sin or sin’s effect, that will happen when we are completely “made like Him” (1 John 3:2) in the consummation of all things. In the mean time, I think it is important to keep in mind what we are up against. The consequences of the Fall are realities that we will continually wrestle against every day throughout our entire lives. First, it should remind us that “sin” is that one thing that truly hinders us and keeps us from becoming who God fully intends us to be. Second, just as it did to the cosmic order, sin in our lives rakes havoc upon our own well-being and those around us. It is the one thing that should be avoided at all cost. Finally, it should remind us that this life is not the all in all. St. Paul writes, What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Ultimately, it will be through death that you and I are set free from sin and its effect upon our lives (of course, unless the Lord comes again before we die). As for now we begin to work towards and participate in this ultimate life to come by learning to live and grow in God’s grace on a daily basis through the practices of the church. When we do, we begin to gradually see sin rejected, dispositions change, and lives transformed.

 

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful… And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col. 3: 15,17) 

Living in thanksgiving, that is, living eucharistically is an acquired skill. The goal of the Christian athlete is to learn how to offer all their play and practice up to God in Jesus Christ.  Paul put it this way in his letter to church of Rome, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2) Here Paul instructs us in where we are to begin so that we may accomplish such an offering of our lives. We are no longer to approach our lives, or the sport we play, in the way in which those that are not Christians do. Rather we are to learn a new pattern for living and being in this world, one that is fashioned after Jesus Christ – a life that is not based upon self-creation, and thus self-interest, but one that flows from the self-sacrificial love of God.

            I believe when we come across language like “renew your mind” we are conditioned by our modern rational worldview that what Paul is referring to is some sort of information or data that we need to acquire, thus if we can just learn this information and put it into practice in our lives we will accomplish the task of “renewing our minds”.  Developing a “skill”, as athletes know first hand, is much more than mastering information; it requires our whole being – body, mind, and heart. “Skills” are developed/acquired within a disciplined nexus of “practices”. (Here, the word “practices” refers to all different means through which one develops a skill; athletic practice is one of those “practices”.) For athletes these “practices” include working with a coach (or master) to learn certain habits and skills as well as over time to help with the polishing and perfecting of these skills. Acquiring skills takes time and usually a lot of repetitions, hence the hours and hours of practice an athlete endures. In addition, to acquire a skill the athlete has to be engaged in the sport, that is, playing it with and against other skilled athletes. First off, you learn through doing; and here both failure and success can become means for the greater development of a skill. Second, as the old cliché states, “iron sharpens iron!” Typically when we play with or compete against the best it has the tendency to bring out the best in us. Furthermore, it provides us a gauge to judge the development of that skill as well as to assess the process whereby we are seeking to cultivate a skill.  Athletes develop and hone skills by submersing themselves within a particular nexus of “practices” – being coached, regular practice, and competing. 

            Learning to live eucharistically is cultivated in much the same way; it is acquired within a nexus of “practices” that make up what we Christians call the Church. Being Christian has less to do with learning certain propositions, and more about acquiring the skill of living in Christ – becoming participants of the Divine life (2 Peter 1:4).  Like athlete’s, acquiring the skill of living eucharistically is greatly aided by mentors in the Church, those spiritual fathers and mothers that have themselves hard won such a way of being in the world.  But above all, this skill is acquired in and through the Church’s worship.  The Church’s worship is at one and the same time the “practice” and “play” of living thankfully. And just like developing a skill in sports, this one also takes time and repetition – being engaged in the regular act of corporate liturgical worship. In other words, we become eucharistic though our participation in the Eucharist worship of the Church. Living in thanksgiving arises out of our communion with God, and nowhere is this relationship more fully experienced than in the liturgical worship of the Church.    

            Ultimately, salvation is none other than participation in the Divine life, and thus God desires that we love and experience Him with our whole being. Therefore, God has given us “means of grace” that engage not only our audible senses (Word), but also those visual and tactile senses (Sacraments) as well. These core practices are the work of Spirit and the means through which Spirit carries its sanctifying/saving mission within the church. Performing these acts within the holy community gives the believer the opportunity to encounter the living Presence of Christ. These sacramental “acts of love” are designed to open the heart’s door and allow an individual to encounter Jesus Christ as He is.  And it is this encounter with the living Christ that forms us into His image and likeness – that is, we acquire the skill of offering our lives “as a living sacrifice”.

            My hope over the next several posts is to provide a road map for cultivating the skill of living eucharistically. Everything I say going forward is secondary to primary practice of liturgical corporate worship. Where do we begin (and end) to acquire the skill of living in thanksgiving? The Corporate Liturgical Eucharist Worship of the Church. As I have noted before, often times it is difficult for athletes to attend Sunday worship because they are having compete on that day. My suggestion is to find a church that offers worship at different times. There are several churches that offer Saturday or Sunday evening services. My own Anglican parish offers a 12:15pm service everyday of the week. It may take some looking around (effort) to locate something that works with your schedule, but again my encouragement is to find a place that you can regularly participate in this all important skill forming activity.

What we have been considering in this blog is a Christian approach to sports, and more specially, a Christian approach for an elite athlete. In contrast to the “recreational” athlete, sport for the elite athlete is what they do, it’s their passion, it consumes their time, it’s what they work at, and it’s how they give back. For them the “play” of sport has become “sedulity” – a certain striving towards excellence. Above all what I have been seeking to suggest is that this “striving toward excellence” of a Christian athlete in a given sport can be a means through which s/he lives into communion with God. This argument is predicated a certain – Christian – view of human existence understood fundamentally as “response”, and here what is assumed is the Triune God. Human existence presupposes God, that is, it presumes God’s existence and His sovereign free creative activity – we are because He first is/was. Contrary to modern thought we did not (and do not) create our selves, rather God brought us into being and thus we are contingent by nature – contingent upon his Being, and His free creative action.

The Bible begins with a telling of the story of creation. In the opening chapters of Genesis, a reader experiences God in His initiative to freely create the world and all that is within it. A focal point in these opening narratives is the creation of human beings (“male and female”), as well as, a description of their response to God’s creative initiative. A discerning reader can’t help but see the very contingent nature of human existence in these sketches. Man’s contingency is illustrated by the very fact of God’s initiative to create the world and man in the first place. If God had not chosen to create the world and man they simply would not exist. Even further we are told that God did not merely create man arbitrarily; he made man in His image (Gen 1:27). In other words, human beings were given a specific “pattern” for existence. Again, not of our own doing or choosing! Not only was man created in the image God, but he was made from the very “material” of the earth – Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7a) – and thus he is bound to this earth. This contingent aspect is most fully experienced in our need for food, water and oxygen in order to live. We may be free to choose what we eat, but we are not free to not eat; if we are to live, we must eat. Man’s contingency is highlighted even further in that man’s being was/is granted by God’s own Being – and (God) breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Gen 2:7b). God did not ask us if we wanted to “be”, we “are” by his choice, and His alone. Also, it is not that God granted us “being” in and of ourselves, rather our being is an extension of His Being. If God ceases to “be”, so do we! We are bound to God and to this earth; perhaps a stark way of putting this is that we are slaves to God and this earth.

Additional proof of this contingency is found in the “prohibition” God gave to Adam and Eve. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Gen 2: 16, 17). Obedience to God is one of those contingent aspects of human nature. I think it’s fair to say that “much” has been predetermined for us as a human being well before we are conscious of our ability to say “no”. In creating us, God did grant us the freedom to make a choice, that is, to respond to this our being. We can either live in accordance with our contingent nature, or counter to it. Each is a way of responding, the former leads to flourishing and life, while the latter tends to corruption and death.

I find it interesting that so much of these opening chapters of the Bible center upon an aspect of man’s contingency, that is, man’s “hunger” and food. Here, food is something more than physical nourishment; it also includes a spiritual/cosmic dimension.

 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.  “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Gen 3:1-7)

Even though in this episode we witness the negative aspects of eating the forbidden fruit the positive dimension of eating permitted fruit is implied. Which is to say, partaking of those foods that God did give them to eat was more than physical nourishment, it included a spiritual/cosmic dimension – it was means of communion with God. Alexander Schmemann explains “In the Bible the food that man eats, the world of which he must partake in order to live, is given to him by God, and it is given as communion with God.” Man’s hunger and thirst, his longing for something more, is the hunger, thirst and longing for God. Schmemann argues, “All that exist is God’s gift to man, and it all exist to make God known to man, to make man’s life communion with God.” God creates the world and all that is in it and in pronouncing it “good” he blesses it to be a transparent means of communion with Him.

As the story goes, “man” (and woman) rejected this contingent nature that had been given to them by God. Instead, they sought to reach beyond their own nature and free themselves from who God made them to be. In so doing, they lost touch with reality; they lost sight of God; they lost themselves. Food, and the world, became an end in itself. They exchanged blessings for curses, thanksgiving for an insatiable greed, and offering for consumerism.

In the Garden freedom and bliss was found through acceptance, thanksgiving and offering… “Man alone is to respond to God’s blessing with his blessing.” He was simply to offer up what he had been given in thanksgiving and thus partake in all things fully. Schmemman put it this way, “(Man) stands in the center of the world and unifies it in his act of blessing it to God – and filling the world with this eucharist (thanksgiving offering) he transforms his life, the one he receives from the world, into life in God, into communion with Him.” In this way, man lives out his priestly role within world.

One catches a glimpse of this eucharistic way of life in Old Testament saints, as well as, in the constitution of children of Israel. Sacrifice and offering was their attempt to live out God’s original intent, or should I say, to embrace their contingency. We don’t have to read to far along in Genesis before we witness this fundamental way of relating to creation and God in the likes of Cain and Able, Noah’s offering, as well as, the story of Abraham and Isaac. Throughout the OT we witness this pattern of sacrifice and offering as way a life by the children of Israel. Perhaps the most basic of them all was the fellowship offering, where a family would take a lamb, split it in half, and cook both halves. Then they would take one half to eat for themselves and set the other upon an altar for God to eat. It was in this sacrificial act that they communed with God. All of this comes full circle in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. What Adam failed to do, that is, offer himself and world up to God; Jesus did, and in doing so, He reconciled us, and the world, back to God. The good news is that in through the sacrifice of Jesus, you and I have real possibility by the Holy Spirit to receive this world and ourselves rightly by offering them up to God and thus transforming them into communion with God. (And yes, you should be hearing and making connections with the Eucharist within our weekly worship services.)

The Christian life is a response – that is, it is a life that is lived in response to the love of God and the gifts of God.

In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an expiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-11).

As I have stated before, each day – never often enough, perfectly or sufficiently – the Christian is the one seeking to live in light of the reality that in Jesus Christ God has first loved us. Here, their response is not merely prompted by a command; rather, it is their attempt to love God with all that they are. For them, being a Christian – a follower of Jesus Christ – is not merely about a one-time decision; much more than that, it’s an ongoing encounter with a Person and an event that gives each day a new horizon and a decisive direction. There is no doubt, this is a deep personal relationship, but it is also one that is necessarily lived out with reference to other individuals and God’s creation. The Christian’s response of love is often expressed in acts of thanksgiving, confession, submission, reliance, sheer awe and even silence, but fundamentally this “response” is best characterized as an offering back. Our response of love to God’s love is to offer back to God that which he has given us. Succinctly put: Creation (and salvation) is a gift from God, and more specifically, your individual creation, with all your talents, passions and desires are gifts from God. These gifts have been given to you out of love to be the means through which you fulfill your purpose – become a partaker of the Divine life. The way in which we actualize all of this is by offering back to God what he has given us. For the athlete this offering takes the form of seeking in faith to become the best you can be at your given sport.

Genesis 28:10-24

22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[a] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

This episode is situated within the larger context of the reconciliation between Esau and Jacob. Remember that Jacob tricked Esau out of his birthright; nevertheless Jacob is confirmed as the rightful heir of the promises made to Abraham and Isaac by God (Gen 28:10-22). Ever since that episode Jacob and Esau have been estranged with one another. Now they are about to meet again and Jacob is fearful for both himself and his family. He is very uncertain as to how he will be received by Esau. Understandably, he stole Esau’s blessing, and even though God confirmed Jacob as the rightful heir of this blessing, he’s not so certain that Esau has that take on things.

Jacob sends his family away to safety and prepares himself for the encounter with Esau. We are not given much information other than Jacob was alone, presumably making ready for the reunion, perhaps he was praying. What we are told is that all the sudden he was wrestling with a man. Where this man comes from we are not told, nor are we privy to what started the wrestling match in the first place. What we can deduce from this passage is that Jacob wanted this man to bless him. Obliviously, Jacob was passionate about and desired this blessing so much that he started wrestling this man to get it. This was not a short match either; Jacob and the man wrestled all night long until the man finally gave Jacob the blessing. Come to find out that the “man” was God. Jacob wrestled with God all night; he said, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” Jacob is blessed and again is confirmed as the rightful heir of the promises of God. In receiving the blessing he also is given a new name, Israel, which means, “he struggles (competes) with God”.

Why does God wrestle with Jacob? Why doesn’t God just immediately bless him? (He had already confirmed him as the rightful heir in his “ladder” dream). The Fathers of the Church were fond to say, “God is not easily won!” In light of this truth, the Fathers recognized three phases of the spiritual life. The first phase is one wherein much grace is imparted. God shows up in a person’s life in a powerful and unforgettable way; God woos us with His love. Faith, hope and love come easy to the new believer. It can be likened to when two people first fall in love; everything is new, brighter, better. God is near and everywhere, always on our mind and in our hearts. But God is a “difficult God” and not easily won and thus begins the next phase. This second stage of faith is often characterized by the feeling of abandonment – God withdraws. Why? Archimandrite Zacharias explains, “God always wants to give us all that He has, it is up to us to respond to His wish, to his desire, and, by accepting His Cross, to convince Him that we are His.”[i] In addition to convincing God that we are his, it can be said that we are not ready receive all that he in store for us. During this phase we are tried and tested; we are refined and purified so that we can fully receive what God wants to give us, which is nothing less than the gift of God’s own self. This full gift of God’s self is the third and final stage – “restoration”. In this stage, man is perfected in his communion with God. Man fully reflects the likeness of God in thought and action. The believer becomes who God intends them to be. They love God and neighbor completely. They are full time participants in the divine nature.

The second stage is where we typically find ourselves; it’s where we put up the “good fight”. Jacob ‘s wrestling match with God is the perfect metaphor because God’s wondering just how much do you want this blessing? Just how bad do you want this life with Him? Are you willing to fight – compete – for God? This second phase can be costly! Jacob left the fight with a limp. Here, we come to know ourselves as we are, the good and the bad; the deep secrets of our hearts are revealed. We suffer, we fight, we grow and mature in His likeness. Fr. Zacharias contends that in this stage “ man’s deep heart is cleansed from secret and unknown dishonorable passions and made ready to receive the spiritual and divine sensation.”[ii] In other words, in this second stage of faith a believer is made ready to receive the gift of God.

This second phase of Christian existences parallels well with ones quest to become their best at a given sport. For the majority of elite athletes the real struggle and fight begins at the next level. They are typically the best of the best at the beginner and intermediate levels; performing well and winning comes often and with a certain ease. But it is at that next level, the elite amateur or professional level, where the real struggle begins. The victories are far less; practice becomes more like work. Consistency, routine, determination and persistence characterize the champions. Refinement in all areas is now the constant goal – the quest to be the best one can be.

Jacob was persistent with God and received the blessing. Jay Bilas has suggested in his book, Toughness, that “persistence is not just about pushing forward, it is about pushing through to reach a new height, exceeding a limit you thought you had.”[iii] Most Christians don’t reach or push the limits of their re-imaged selves enough to discover their potential, or for that matter, to really experience God. Bilas goes on to say, “Everybody limits themselves in some way, whether it is to manage expectations and avoid disappointment, or to avoid physical pain and discomfort that accompanies the reach for a new limit, a higher standard.”[iv] We are too quick to settle for “ok” and the “comfort zone”, rather than chasing God’s limitlessness. Unlike Jacob we are too quick to opt out of the fight – “get some sleep” – rather than wrestle all “night” and receive the blessing.

We are limited and contingent beings nevertheless we are made in God’s image and endowed with immeasurable potential. Our potential is ground in God’s power, his limitlessness and infinite goodness. God desires that each and every human live into this limitlessness and infinite goodness by seeking to develop to the fullest their own gifts and talents. In sports talk, God is our greatest fan, cheering us on to great feats, holding fast when we waver, reveling in our accomplishments and standing firmly alongside us in our defeats – God with us.

What’s it going to be for you? Are you going to risk enough, will you fight all night, to receive the blessing of life with God?

 

 

[i]Zacharias, Archimandrite, The Enlargement of the Heart, 55.

[ii] Ibid, 48.

[iii] Bilas, Jay Toughness, 130.

[iv] Ibid.

God created games for our enjoyment! But games, by their very nature, necessarily entail a winner and a loser. So to play a game as God intends one must seek through their best efforts to win the game. Nevertheless “winning” and “giving your best” are not synonymous. I’m sure you can recall many times you have won and not given your best, as well as, those times you gave it everything you got and came up just a little short. There is a certain truth to the saying, “It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” Yet, if the “how” loses sight of the intent to win through ones best efforts it has ceased to be the proper “how”. To often this saying is used to protect our egos in the event that we lose, or it is set forth to fence out failure. If one wants to play a game as God intended then one must seek through their best efforts to play to win.

For the elite athlete and especially for the professional one, winning is essential for advancing to the next level, or for that matter, getting paid. If you’re not winning, it is doubtful that you will be around for very long – coach or player. Here the Christian Athlete must be on guard so as not to succumb to the “win at all cost” mentality. We witness this daily in the world of sports where athletes will resort to cheating (corked bats, deflated footballs, HGH, etc…) to try and secure the victory. This is not the Christian way, there are no short cuts to victory as we witnessed with the cross of Christ. Simply put, the goal for the Christian athlete is to win through their best efforts within the given rules of game.

There are three different competitions going on simultaneously within sporting event for the Christian Athlete. These competitions are distinct, yet bound up together within the activity itself. The first and most immediate level of competing is against ones opponent. Lincoln Harvey, in his recent book, A Brief Theology of Sport, has contended that there is a unique movement when two competitors come together that expresses and displays something essential to the very nature of existence – our contingency. For him “only together –as com-petitors – can they be strung together between life-with God and nothing-with-nothingness.” This highlights the truth of our existence in each moment, either we are embracing life with God through Jesus Christ by faith, or its opposite – grasping for nothingness. These are the only two options available to us as contingent beings. The opposite of God is not the devil, sin, or death (we all die), but nothingness. This is what is meant when we contend that God is “the All in all”. There is God and then there is nothing else; absolutely nothing exists apart from God. So when one turns away from God they literally turn into “nothingness”.

In and through competition, Harvey suggests, “winners will face life, the triumphant movement out of the possibility of non-being through our obedient response to the gracious summons to exist. The losers – simultaneously – will face the nothingness from which we are summoned.” In other words, in thrill of victory we taste the triumphant glory of God’s goodness, while through the agony of defeat we are reminded of the brokenness of our existence and our need for grace. Neither comes at the expense of the other, for whether you win or lose you are living in a graced moment facing the truth of our existence with God – our possibilities and our limits. Even when we find ourselves on the losing side, with eyes to see and ears to hear, we perceive – experience- the living God in all his gracious beauty and goodness. So when opponents compete against one another they are actually creating sacred space for the possibility of partaking in the divine life.

The second level of competition that arises within a sporting activity is the competition we have with ourselves. I believe all great athletes eventually come to understand that when we compete we are ultimately competing no so much against a given opponent, but ourselves. The great Russian dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, captured it with this statement, “I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.” I have suggested that the Christian athlete’s offering to God consist in striving to become the best they can at their given sport. Competition has the tendency to reveal answers to question such as: Have I been seeking to become the best I can be? Did I give my best? Was I competitive? Competitions are reality checks. They can reveal the level of our commitment, the quality of practice and preparation, the state of our mindset, as well as, the nature of our character. In addition to testing ourselves, competitions can become the culmination of the offering to God. It’s a moment wherein we gather up all the preparation and effort – the honing of skills – and put it on display before God and others. A thanksgiving offering offered in response to gifts of God given.

The third level of competition that is taking place within the game is the most important one of all. It’s integrally tied up with first two levels I have mentioned. We can think of them as the means through which this “ultimate competition” becomes a reality. When the Christian competes within a given sport – against an opponent and themselves – the Christian is competing to win God. In seeking to become the best one can be at a given sport – competing – they are striving simultaneously to become a partaker of the divine life of God. As I state on the introductory page of the blog, The Christian life is the ultimate competition – the “game” we play is matter of life or death. The medal, the championship, the ring, the trophy, the “crown” we compete for is eternal life, or more specifically, life with God.

We are very good at compartmentalization. As friend of mine put it, “we have the tendency to leave God in the car when we get to the field and the only time we ask him to get out is when we find ourselves in a predicament.” I think we do this partly because our prideful nature seeks the glory that can arise within the moment. Also, I think we do this because the “church” has failed to teach us how to see all of life as arena for God’s presence. Let’s not be fooled, God is present whether we acknowledge him or not. I believe the key for the Christian athlete to overcome our tendency to compartmentalize is by seeing and approaching their sport from the perspective of a “thanksgiving offering” as outlined in previous posts. Just like our skills and mindsets, this Christian approach must be trained.

 

I believe one of the greatest compliments an athlete can be given is to be called a “competitor”. The question I am continually asking my players is “did you compete today?” There are of a lot athletic individuals, but not every athlete truly competes. Great competitors play with “heart”; they don’t give up when things aren’t going their way and they don’t give in when they are losing. They fight you until the last second of the final round and they are still throwing punches as the bell rings. When I think of great competitors names like Arnold Palmer, Steve Prefontaine, Babe Zaharais, Pete Rose, Martina Navratilova, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods comes to mind. I’m sure you have your own list as well. Would you ever think to put God on that list?

God is a competitor! He competed for us and won. The former MLB great closer Billy Wagner admitted that there was a time that he really struggled with how felt when he was competing because he thought it was at odds with how believed a Christian should feel and act. Billy was a fiercest competitor; he was 5’9” and threw 100 plus. He said “I hated losing more than I loved winning, and that drove me”. He stated further, “I never wished any ill-will toward my opponent, but it was either him or me. It was my job to get him out and sometimes that required me buzzing his chin with 98 mph fastball.” Billy said it wasn’t until much later in his career that he found some peace with his competitive nature and that was when certain clubhouse chaplain helped him understand that God is also competitive.

Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Ex. 34:14). Throughout Old Testament, God is called “Jealous”. Yahweh was desirous of Israel’s worship – their love and devotion. God loved them and was what was best for them, so He struggled – competed – to win their hearts. So much so, that he “sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him”(1 John 4:9). The competitive nature of God hit close to home with Billy especially when he reflected on the scene in the temple courtyard where Jesus overturned the tables of the money changes. By no means is this a license to be abusive toward others or destructive of their things, but it is license to be passionately expressive and competitive toward the things that are dear to our hearts. For Jesus, it was love for his Father’s house – true and proper worship. For Billy Wagner, it was getting on that mound and competing against himself and for his teammates by competing against the given opponent of the day.

God not only competed for our love and affection by sending his only Son into world (John 3:16), but also competed against the powers that held humanity captive. The earliest proclamations were “Jesus is Lord” triumphantly declaring that Christ’s Kingdom had come. David Bentley Hart notes, “For the early Church, Easter was an event of total divine victory in every sphere of reality.”[i] The earliest Christians taught that the original sin of Adam and Eve placed all of humanity under subjugation to sin, death and Devil. Christ’s crucifixion, death and resurrection is God’s victory over these three. God conquers death by fully entering into and overcoming it – “by trampling down death by death”. For 2^nd century church father, Irenaeus, Christ is the one who “has made captivity captive” (Eph 4:8). Later this model of atonement became referred to as “Christus Victor”. God conquers Satan through crucifixion; ironically, with the very means intended by the Evil One to do away with Jesus. Christ entered fully into the bondage of death and sin, shattering everything that separated us from God, making it a moment of victory, and thereby liberating us to live lives of love without the fear of death. In other words, God competed for us and won.

[i] Hart, David Bentley, The Story of Christianity, p23.

Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:12-14

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

I ended the last post stating, “Everything is different for the athlete that places his faith in Jesus Christ.” And then I went on to expound a little on this “difference” in saying, “The Christian doesn’t play for the glory of the game; they play simply because they love it. Their identity is not wrapped up in their performance, for they know themselves as a child of God. They compete to win, for that is the nature of a game, but they compete for something even greater, they compete to win God. The Christian athlete seeks through their practice and play to encounter the living God, and this becomes a real possibility when the athlete practices and plays in faith – belief, trust, love, hope.”

In this post, I want consider this idea that for the Christian athlete “everything is different”. The Christian and non-Christian play by the same the rules; they are bound by the same natural laws and seek to tap into the same “mechanical advantages”. They share similar strategies and ideas, as well as, compete with the same effort and intensity. From an outward appearance it may be very difficult to detect the “difference” of the Christian. The Christian like the non-Christian wins and loses, performs well at times and plays poorly on other occasions. Being a Christian does not guarantee success, that is, success understood as “being on top” or “better than”. So what is this “difference” that I speak of? The Christian approaches and plays the game from different mindset (state of being) – one that leads to a different experience.

One of the challenges in being Christian is learning (re-learning) to see, hear, taste, feel, think, hope – experience – life (sports) in Christ. The truth is that we approach most of our lives in same vain as the non- Christian. The goals we set, the things that we value, the way we view ourselves (and others) are too often determined by our culture and our own selfish desires rather than Christ. (I think this is particularly true with sports, and in attempt to make it more Christian we simply apply hash-tags to make us feel better. I don’t know how many times I have seen on bats and cleats of players Phil 4:13 (“I can do all things through Christ…”). What are we talking about here? Is it same thing that Paul was intending when he penned those words?) The “difference” for the Christian is seldom experienced, because we rarely live Christianly. With allusions to baptism, these verses from Colossians highlight the “difference” of the Christian. The Christian is the one that has been “delivered” and “transferred” into a new realm, a kingdom with different values, goals and ethics. So St. Paul encourages us to “set our minds on things that are above”. Here, he is not talking about angels and golden streets; no, he is challenging us to see, think, feel – experience – life in light of the reality of Christ. For the Christian, Christ alone is the determining factor for our existence (For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory).

Through previous post I have sought to provide a (theological) framework for Christian living (existence). The Christian is the one that seeks to live in response to God and His gifts by offering back to God in thanksgiving through faith that which God has given him (any other approach is sinful). Living this life of thanksgiving is the way of communion with God. Consciously seeking to order our lives in this fashion is our first step. The Christian Athlete responds to the gifts of God and lives into this Gift by offering back to God all that s/he is and all it takes to become the best s/he can be at their sport. In conjunction with this first step, we are going to need to deconstruct a great deal of the way in which we approach and think about the world and our sport. If we truly want to live Christianly we should begin with a self-evaluation. We will need to ask ourselves some difficult questions: Why do I play? Who do I play for? What are my ultimate goals? In so doing, we will identify those ways of being an athlete that are not Christian. This twofold task of “putting on” (Set your minds on things that are above) and “putting off” (not on things that are on earth) will be a daily endeavor and one that we will continuously engage in throughout our life. Remember, the goal of the human existence is communion with God (and in God with one another). God has given sports (and all of life) as means through which to live more deeply into that life with Him.

 

By seeking to make something with the “ingredients” we have been given we reach through what is seen and encounter the Living One who created all there is in the first place. The more deeply we penetrate into very nature of the world the more we come to know God. “The human person (the athlete)” says Staniloae, “discovers ever new alternative dimensions of creative things not merely through his own reasons and new combinations and uses of things themselves, but also through the feelings and continual new thoughts his body produces in its contact with things.” God may be experienced within the sport itself, within the practice and the play. He is discovered in the perfecting of specific motions (biomechanics), the psychology of performance, pushing the limits of the human body, etc. Of course, we are not saying that God is identical with the “thing-in-itself”, rather we are suggesting that God can be known – experienced – in and through His creation (the sport), not looking beyond it, but attending to every detail. The greater, the deeper, the more passionate one pursues excellence within a given sport, that is, the more one gives oneself to their sport through faith, God reveals himself in new and ever surprising ways and often times in unexpected moments. “What” we are to offer God – our response – in light what he has given us is nothing short of our total selves, our passionate pursuit to become the best at the sport we love. Here, “how” the gift is offered makes all the difference.

As we saw with Abel, the acceptable offering is one that is given by “faith”. Faith is a disposition before God; it is simultaneously knowing oneself as a forgiven sinner, yet boldly calling God, “Our Father”. This bold, yet humble posture is characterized by a belief (faith), a hope and a love. Faith consists of the belief that what God has revealed about Himself is true. The athlete begins and orients her existence from the perspective that God created all there is for the purpose of participating in God’s life. They comprehend that the telos – the ultimate purpose – of every human being is to partake in the Divine life. And so they trust that through Jesus Christ they enjoy this communion with God. In addition to the primary means of grace offered through the church, the Christian Athlete realize that God can be known through His creation, and more specifically for them, He can be experienced within the practice and play of their sport.

What drives you to become the best you can be at given sport? The Christian athlete understands that by seeking to become the best they can be, they are “offering themselves as living sacrifices”. Which is to say, they are motivated by the gifts of God, and seeking to become the best they can be is their way of responding – giving thanks – to God. This response is the athlete’s attempt to love God with all her “heart, soul and mind”. In addition, they are driven by the fact that in doing so they will come to know the living God in ever new and transformative ways. Any other motivation misses the mark – is sinful.

(I think it is important for us to keep in mind that this side of heaven our motivations are never perfect. There will be moments we forget, become distracted and compete for the wrong reasons. Which is to say, there will be times that we will need to repent. We are always on our way and we never arrive perfectly until the consummation of all things, so remember it’s not in being perfect, but in striving through faith to be, that God meets us and transforms us. )

What I think is so refreshing and exciting about all this is that God has given us a medium through which to experience His life in ordinary “worldly” things (sports…) that we enjoy. Think of all the diversity of gifts and interest that God has scattered throughout humanity – arts, sports, music, science, business, and the list goes on. We are able to grow in and express our love for God in and through something that we are very much interested in and are good at. The athlete expresses his love for God through her dedication, sacrifice, and perseverance to make most of the gifts that God has given to them.

“How” the Christian Athlete works and plays at sport makes all the difference. We come to the sport with a certain “belief” that in and through this sport we will encounter the living God, and we practice and play with a certain “love” of the game and out of a loving heart for God. Finally, this “how” – faith – is rounded out with certain “hope”. This hope is not wishful in nature, rather it is the surety that upholds the Christian’s existence. This hope is none than, Jesus Christ! He is the guarantee of our salvation and our final victory. This Hope is the advantage that the Christian athlete enjoys over the non- believing one. You see, The Christian has already won – Jesus Christ is the prize of the world. This reality frees the Christian athlete to rise above the “worldly” trappings of sports and to play the game as it is intended to be played. And thus, experience the “joy” of the sport as God intended it to be in the first place.

Everything is different for the athlete that places his faith in Jesus Christ. They don’t play for the glory of the game; they play simply because they love it. Their identity is not wrapped up in their performance, for they know themselves as a child of God. They compete to win, for that is the nature of a game, but they compete for something even greater, they compete to win God. The Christian athlete seeks through their practice and play to encounter the living God, and this becomes a real possibility when the athlete practices and plays in faith – belief, trust, love, hope.

 

“Everything is free, nothing is due and yet all is given. And therefore, the greatest humility and obedience is to accept the gift, to say yes – in joy and gratitude. There is nothing we can do, yet we become all that God wanted us to be from eternity, when we are eucharistic.” – Schmemann, For the Life of the World

Three terms that continue to resurface in this exploration “On Being a Christian Athlete” are: thanksgiving, offering, and faith. Simply stated: the Christian is that individual who seeks to respond to the gifts of God by offering themselves in thanksgiving by faith.  Five times in Colossians (1.12, 2.7 3.15, 3.17, 4.2) Paul exhorts us to be “thankful”; in the last chapter he goes as far as encouraging us to “devote” ourselves to it.  As I stated in “Part 2”, when all things have been given to you as gift the only proper response is one of thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is the opposite of pride because thanksgiving recognizes that it had nothing to do with it, or that it was somehow earned. No, thanksgiving understands that the gifts were freely given by the grace of God and not warranted at all.  In following Schmemann, I want to suggest again “real life is ‘eucharist’ (thanksgiving), a movement of love and adoration toward God, the movement in which alone the meaning and the value of all that exist can be revealed and fulfilled.” It is in eucharistic existence that we live in God and He in us.  One of primary ways the athlete (or anyone) lives thankfully before God is by seeking to make the most of the gifts and talents that s/he has been given.

            Speaking in such terms takes us to the very heart of Christian worship, and I dare say, the very center of the Church and Christian existence. Here, we are talking about none other than the Lord’s Table – the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is constitutive and programmatic for the Church, and thus, the Christian.  In the Eucharist the Church is constituted as the Church, for the Church is all those individuals that have been accepted into the “eucharistic life of Christ”.  At the Lord’s Table we offer the world and ourselves back up to God; the bread and the wine represent this offering.  Schmemann reminds us that we offer in Christ and in remembrance of Christ, because each time we offer ourselves and the world back to God we realize that there is “nothing to be offered but Christ Himself”. Our offering becomes joined to Christ’s and in Him is made pleasing and acceptable before the Father. The most amazing thing takes place in the Eucharist; God receives our thanksgiving and turns right back around and gives it (bread and wine) back to us with the gift of Himself – communion.  God shows up in the midst of thanksgiving, offering and faith.

            I have suggested that the Eucharist is constitutive for the Church – the unique act of remembering that “makes” the Church the Church. In addition, it is also programmatic for the Church; it initiates, informs, and reminds us again and again who we are. And who we “are”, or suppose to be, is that eucharistic being, an individual that accepts the gifts of God and offers them back to Him out of love. The bread and wine are the gifts that we have been given that we that we offer back.  But we have not really been given bread and wine; rather we have been given the ingredients and abilities to make bread and wine. So we take those ingredients and with our own hands and reason we make/toil/create the bread and wine that we offer. In so doing, the gifts of God are transformed into our gifts – our creation – that we offer back to God in thanksgiving.

            When we talk about the Lord’s Table – the Eucharist – in most Christian traditions we find ourselves speaking in terms of the Sacraments. The entire foundation of the Sacraments within the Church is that “God can operate upon the creature in his visible reality” with the end goal being union with God.  The Sacraments – Table and Baptism – are the means through which our relationship with God is established and maintained. Traditionally, it is also true to speak of the creation itself as sacrament, that is, the created things as means through which we communion with God. The former (Sacraments) is directly related to our means of salvation while the later (sacraments) refers to our daily experiences with God.  The Sacraments of the Church and the sacraments of created things are not to be confused with one another, but they are connected together through Christ “who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:6). For us here the important point is that “things” of the world can become sacramental along an analogous line with the Sacraments. More specifically, the “things “of the world, such as, sports can be sacramental and a transparent means through which we live into God’s divine life.

            To tie these theological concepts together, I want to restate a few lengthy quotes from “Faith Offering – Part 1”.  Staniloae contends,

“The world is necessary for the human person not only because he needs it to be given to him, but also because he himself has need of it so that, in his turn, he may make a gift of it for the sake of his own spiritual growth. The things given us by God can become our own gift to God by the fact that in the return of these things to God we are free. We transform things into gifts of our own through the act of our freedom and through the love we thus show to God. Having this aim in view, we can be endlessly transforming and combining the things of creation. God gave the human person the world a gift characterized not just by continuous fertility, but also by a great wealth of alternatives that man has the capacity to make actual through freedom and work. As talents given by God but multiplied by the human person, this process of actualization is the gift the person returns to God.”

The Christian Athlete responds to the gifts of God and lives into this Gift by offering back to God all that s/he is and all it takes to become the best s/he can be at their sport. In giving back it is God’s desire that (He even enjoys when) we put our own stamp upon these gifts. It’s our freedom and privilege to add our work, our creation, in bringing the “gift” to fruition in order to make it truly our gift that we offer back.  In other words, God has given us the freedom, talent, ability and rational faculties in combination with the inherent nature of creation to be rational, adaptable and malleable so that we might create something unique out of love for God and our neighbor. In this way the gift offered becomes truly your own gift, your own creation. The important point to keep in mind here is that it is not merely the end product (e.g. for the athlete the performance) we are offering up to God, but everything that leads up to that performance as well – the blood, sweat and tears. For the athlete, the gift offered back includes all the practice and sacrifice it takes to become your best. In so many ways the performance is secondary. The gift offered back to God is the “all it takes” to make use of and not waste the gift God has given.  In short, your gift to God is your attempt to make the best of what you have been given.

            Our gifts – offerings – are never perfect and our thanksgivings are never sufficient, but in and through faith our thanksgiving offerings are joined with Christ’s all sufficient one and are made holy and pleasing to God. An amazing thing happens, an even greater gift is given, in the midst of this thanksgiving, offering and faith; God grants the gift of Himself – communion.

When all things have been given to you as a gift – your creation, talent, desires, salvation and so forth… – the only fitting response is to say Thank You. But a simple verbal acknowledgment will not do for such a great gift, for what we are really talking about here is the very the gift of our own life. So the thanksgiving that we seek to offer is with our entire being. Therefore, we offer ourselves – soul and body – back to God (Roman 12:1), and in so doing we truly become who we are meant to be. The Christian athlete makes this offering by seeking to become the best s/he can be at their given sport. What’s important here is the “how” of this offering.

For the offering to be “holy and pleasing to God” it is to be offered in faith. I use the term “faith” here as a catch-all phrase, for in “faith” we offer in belief, trust, obedience, love and hope. “Faith” is the “how” of our offering. It is man’s essential “M.O.” (modus operandi) – the righteous shall live by faith. Our vocation as a “human being” is/was simply to offer back to God that which he had given to us and in so doing transform all of life into communion with God. “Faith” enables man live into this vocation.

We are intended to live the life of “thanksgiving”. The Greek word for thanksgiving is “eucharist”. Many of the early church fathers described us as “eucharistic beings”. Which is to say, that our very fulfillment, our purpose, as “man” consist in this thanksgiving (eucharistic) offering to God. Schmemann put it this way, “we know that real life is ‘eucharist’, a movement of love and adoration toward God, the movement in which alone the meaning and the value of all that exist can be revealed and fulfilled.” Again, the problem is/was that we failed to be the “eucharist’ being God made us to be, rather than offering back to God that which he had given to us we just consumed it and used it solely to our own ends. But in Christ, the eucharist life that was once lost has been restored. He lived the perfect life of thanksgiving, offering back to God in love that which God gave to Him. Through “faith” we become participants in His offering. You see, “faith” makes possible our ability to become once again eucharistic beings – individuals that offer back to God all that God has given to us and in so doing transform all of life into life in God.

Faith is the essential “how” in offering the world and ourselves to God. Christ’s offering is the only acceptable offering; all others fall short in obedience and love. This is why it is not the “why” that ultimately matters, but the “how”! Our motives are not perfect, they are mixed and inept – sinful. Alone our offering is ever and always insufficient. Through faith we offer not merely ourselves, but Christ, for he has offered “all that is to be offered” to God.  Here, our offering becomes joined to His all-sufficient one and is made “holy and pleasing” unto God.

The truth, or reality, is that that when we seek to “play for Him” we have that lingering tendency to play for ourselves. When we seek to remember Him, we more times than not find ourselves forgetting Him. When we think we have given Him our best, we discover we actually have more to offer. St. Paul described it this way “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out … Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7: 15,18, 24, 25). Pure motives elude us, thus the need for Jesus Christ. An essential ingredient of faith is “humble reliance”. Kierkegaard once summed it up in this fashion, in relation to God we always find ourselves in the wrong. Faith simultaneously seeks to offer our best, that is, it seeks to offer God lives of perfect obedience and pure love, all the while knowing that we are truly unable to do that. Nevertheless, we must never rest in this inability –our sinfulness- where we take God’s forgiveness for granted; no, we must continually seek with all our might to live that sinless life before God. Here, “faith” may best be described as “striving in humble admission.” For instance, we seek (strive) to love another with the love of God in full recognition (humble admission) that we cannot love the other with the love God, so in acknowledging our inability we rest in God’s forgiveness and seek His grace to help our love toward the other be experienced as God’s love (we rely upon grace, in our reliance upon grace). So the opposite of sin then is not virtue, as we so often want to tend towards, rather the opposite of sin is faith.

So the Christian athlete, through faith offers up to God all it takes to become the best s/he can be at their sport as a response to the gifts of God experienced in Christ Jesus. In so doing, that which is offered – the sacrifice, preparation, practice and play – becomes, to use Hippoltus’ (187-197 AD) term, “eucharistized”, that is, made a gift that is holy and pleasing to God. In exchange for these gifts – sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving – God gives the gift of Himself. In this way, or shall I say, through this faith offering, the “things” of earth are transformed into life in God, communion with God.