Fantasy versus Reality

I am a huge sports fan. For those of you who know me well, know how much of an understatement that may be. I eat, breath and sometimes sleep sports. I have my favorite teams and my favorite sports, but that doesn’t stop me from watching anything sports on television. My current sport is cycling as I am enthralled in watching the Tour de France. Now those guys are athletes, and a little crazy. Before the Tour, I watched Wimbeldon, before that Euro 2008 soccer. Notice how I haven’t even included any ‘traditional’ American sports. I watch those too, especially baseball. I have also gotten into the fantasy sports scene as well. I have my golf team, my baseball team, my cycling team and have just signed on for another year of fantasy football. The fantasy sports world is interesting to me. As one of those guys who had just enough sports talent not to make the final cut of any team, I have become an avid fan of anything and everything. Having the fantasy sports world gives me an outlet for my obsession. Who to trade, who to pick up, who to play or who to leave on the bench? All questions I ponder, during my free time of course. In a way, it kind of allows me to ‘play’ from the sidelines. I know, I am not really playing anything, but in a small sense, I at least feel a part of the games I watch. It keeps me interested.

In thinking about this, I wonder about the church or the faith people have. I wonder if people are out there who participate in church in a similar way. Do they look out on the church and feel as if they don’t have enough faith to fit in? Do they think, “I’m not quite good enough to do the whole church thing”? Some even lead a lifestyle that is not exactly the most holy, so they therefore feel guilty about being involved. I remember in college, how awkward it was to see some people at our campus worship service on Sunday morning at 11AM, when I had seen them only 12 hours earlier in a very different state. That’s just one example of many. This begs the question, like in the sports world, have we set the bar so high that these people simply don’t make the cut, like I experienced with high school sports. I was lacking just enough to keep me off the team. Do we treat people the same way in the church? Is the bar set so high that they don’t feel welcomed? Or should the bar be set higher for more accountability to occur? Or should the bar be set at all? I think all parties share in blame. We in the church are not as welcoming as we should be to those who are different. We rush to judge someone far quicker than we are to learn about them. Those who are not in the church sometimes carry around a sense that they are not good enough for the church, a low spiritual self-esteem if you will. They too are guilty of passing a quick judgment on individuals, only theirs is aimed at people inside the church. And none of this tackles the difficult issue of what the church as an institution means to people who are inside and outside its walls.

Going back to the idea of fantasy sports, I believe there exists a fantasy world for faith as well. A few months back, I learned how large communities are worshipping now via the internet. People will turn their computer on and listen to a podcast or watch a live streaming worship service, never leaving the comfort of their own home. While this may seem new, it is not. Older folks turn the television on and watch a worship service. Some have done this for years. These individuals do this, not because they cannot physically go, but merely because it is easier that way. They observe from the sidelines, watching a service, but not participating in the traditional, communal kind of way. While their own personal spirituality is affected, they do not interact with anyone else while doing this. Jesus himself said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. (Matt. 18:20)”. Now does this mean that Jesus isn’t with the individual who experiences a crisis or goes through some hard times? Absolutely not. But when it comes to worship, the sermon, the music, the prayers are only part of the whole. Another part is the community that gathers together, comes together in relationship with one another, for both the good and the bad. The bottom line is the fact that relationships were created by God. God looked at Adam and felt like he needed someone to be in relationship with, so God created Eve. We as human beings were created in relationship with God, in relationship with other human beings, in relationship with all of creation. When we live in a way that lacks those real, concrete and holy relationships that we were created to be in, we cannot become all that God wants us to be. We try, oh do we try. And by doing so, we tend to play the role of God the creator. So we create fantasy worlds for all kinds of things, relationships, worship, sports, just to name a few.

So here’s the thing, maybe it’s time for us to quite living in fantasy worlds and staring living in the world God created for us. For me, that means going out and throwing a ball with someone rather than simply playing sports with my computer. What does that mean for you? What fantasy world are you living in instead of living in the real world that God created for you?

Brad