Baseball, The Church, and Hairy Eyeballs

Years ago, as parents of four young boys who were all fairly obsessed with baseball, we were very involved with the sport. My husband coached at least one of their Little League teams every year. (2005 was his 14th and final year......WHEW!!!) The boys loved it. We loved it. There were others who didn't. We have always been very involved in our church ---especially when we lived in upstate NY. Jim was an elder. We taught adult Sunday School classes together (he did the formal teaching - I'm just a sidekick!). I've run VacationBible School. We planned and led the music on Sunday mornings. We led a cell group in our home. Jim ran Boy's Brigade on Wednesday nights. I could go on. I only bring this up to show that we weren't sitting around letting everyone else carry the load in our church.

When late spring rolled around every year, we usually spent a lot of time at the field. Four boys, four different ages, sometimes meant four different teams. Usually three because two of my boys are only a year apart. At any rate.....if you've got that many kids each playing even one night a week, you are pretty much sitting in the bleachers most evenings during baseball season. We were very comfortable with that. Unfortunately, I have seen the "hairy eyeball" out of the corner of my eye from other church leadership during baseball season. I even heard someone address the issue from the pulpit with something like, 'you have to question your commitment to the Lord if baseball or football is more important than Wednesday night service'. Every spring, prayer meeting was out for two months and baseball was in. We planned on it, knew it was coming, felt like that was where God wanted us. Commitment to church programs is not the same as intimacy with the Father or commitment to the Lord. Performance is not righteousness.

I'm sure there have been times when I've given someone else the "hairy eyeball" either overtly or covertly(the chicken's way out). I'm also certain that doing so was sinful behavior on my part although I didn't think so at the time.



Two years ago, my friend, who was married to a crack addict, had weeks at a time when she wasn't 'going to church' on Sunday mornings. She was a part of the Sunday School class that my husband and I taught for young marrieds. She had two very young children and was pregnant.....and was living life quite on her own as her husband had been away in rehab for most of their married life. She was living with her unbelieving family at the time in a less than perfect situation. During this time she was soaking up the Word, praying, and truly becoming a woman of God in circumstances that most of us would crumble under. We usually got together about once a week at my house or the park or whatever. Was she being disobedient in not attending 'church' during that time? I'm sure some thought so. I'm quite certain she was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing.



My point is this. Sometimes the better choice isn't always the one that others will think is the godly one. We have to look at what GOD tells us and seek Him rather than the approval of others or relying on what we think God wants us to do based on tradition. For instance, we are instructed to pray without ceasing(I Thessalonians 5:17). We are also instructed not to give up "assembling" or "meeting" together in Hebrews 10:25. We are instructed to build each other up, love one another, encourage one another, etc. all through the new testament. The early believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, breaking of bread, the fellowship, and to prayer (Acts 2:42) However, we are not ever instructed to have Wednesday night services, be at "church" every time the doors are opened, or not have leisure activities with our families. We are never told to have programs or services. We are told to remember the Lord in the breaking of bread. To present our bodies a living sacrifice. Sunday school is never talked about in the Word but we are exhorted in Deuteronomy 6: 6 "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."



The church system has ordered our lives for us in a sense. It can be dangerous because if we can check off all the things on the list, we think we're doing okay spiritually and being obedient. Sunday Morning, check. Sunday evening, check. Wednesday night, check. Men's breakfast or ladies' meeting, check. Sometimes we go to all the right meetings but it somehow never takes hold in our lives because there is no life outside of that artificial environment called the church building. How many of us are horrified if someone doesn't show for worship service, but we actually spend very little time worshipping the Lord at home when no one's looking. Are we guilt-ridden when we miss prayer meeting (where most of the praying is done by others), but spend little time pouring out our heart to the Father alone or with our family at home? Do we attend every single men's breakfast or ladies meeting when maybe we should have been home with our families that week instead? My dear husband used to take flack because he refused to attend Saturday morning men's meetings. It was the only morning of the week when he could be home with us instead of zipping off to work or piling in the car with all of us and going to church. I loved that decision! It was the right one. With four little kids at home at the time, I needed him home. They needed to be with him. Sometimes it's easier to go to church and listen to someone talk about walking out the Christian life than it is to actually live it.



Back to Little League. Over the years, sports has taken a bad rap in the church. I suppose it is probably because it interferes with church 'programs'. I'm glad my husband has chosen, over the years, to listen to what he knew was right for us in this area. We have established relationships with other families that we never would have had. We have relationships with kids in our community that never would have been there. Our children got to see how we can relate appropriately to those in the world and be "in the world" without being "of the world". They got to see their father handle situations in a godly way with other coaches, people and Little League boards, etc. In Deuteronomy, I think it was talking about that type of thing.....in other words.....talk about the precepts of the Lord as a part of your daily life.....when you walk along (or drive your big old paint van), when you get up (and you're enjoying that skim milk and oat bran on your diet), when you lie down (and pray with your kids for others and thank Him for His blessings, when you sit at home (or are cleaning the basement or doing yardword). Deuteronomy 6:7 wasn't talking about church programs. It was talking about life! The early believers in Acts were meeting together daily in the places that were common meeting places. Their homes and the temple courts.

I'm actually a very compliant, don't-rock-the-boat, just go along with it kind of person (unless, of course, it's something ungodly or sinful). I don't like confrontation or controversy. However, like I stated in a previous post (I am, Therefore I Think, August 6th), I don't want to be afraid to think or evaluate things. I don't want to push nagging issues to the back of my mind. I want to be able to honestly answer questions like "Why do we do this?" "Why don't we do that?" "Is the Word really telling us this or is it really saying that".

I love the church (God's people). I love being with people who love Him. I love talking about Him and His blessing when I walk along the way, when I sit and when I lie down. I don't neglect assembling with others who know Him. It's difficult to even portray some of these issues I have with the church as we know it today without sounding angry or radical or bitter because you don't know me and unfortunately tone can be picked up in print that isn't there in conversation. I am just grieved that the church as we know it today has become a building that we go to that is essentially run by one person rather than the living organism that it is. Church is not something we attend. We don't "do" church. We are the church. He is not at a church building any more than He is in our living rooms Acts 17:24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. Now He dwells in us. The implications are staggering! Sunday isn't the 'Lord's day', they ALL are.

Have a great day! Tomorrow's post......"The Man of God, Called to Preach"