Sabbatical Sermons - Baseball and Pastoring

I was just telling someone the other day that we probably like playing baseball more than we like watching but I still like

Watching baseball when I was a kid

I played baseball for one year and then I played soccer for two years and then went back to baseball I think for

Four years, but I'm 44. So my memory isn't that great anymore, but I do remember

That this summer it'd be hard to forget I coached my son's 12 and under

Little League team and I also got to coach at the end of the year the all-star

Team not because I was some great coach but because the other coach said well you have at least a little more experience than

I do so why don't you do it?

And so that was how I became the all-star coach and one of the reasons that I said yes to coaching

this team

In the first week other than just all the texts and emails saying hey, we still don't have a coach yet

Oh was because I knew that I was gonna be on

sabbatical so I just want to say thank you to to this church to you guys because you're part of the reason that I

Was able to coach and the reason that I was able to put so much into it because I am not exaggerating when I say

That I spent way more time

Thinking about rosters and batting orders on base percentages and batting averages than I ever

thought that I

Would I used to wonder how is it that someone can be a coach as their full-time job?

And now I know because this was just a little league team

And I spent hours planning for every single game

You have to keep track of ten kids and at this age you have to keep track of how many pitches they pitched

Because there's health protocols like oh if they pitch this many pitches

They can't pitch the next day or for this many days you have to keep track

Well, you have to keep track of how many times they were up to bat you have to keep track of how many innings they

Played and then you have to keep track of their stats if you actually

Want to start shaping that lineup in a way that helps the team get to a place where they might win games and you know

Puts their their best abilities

Forward and then you have to keep 20 parents in the loop

And you have to manage their expectations and

Communicate with your assistant coaches and the coaches of the other teams and the other cities where you're gonna play

It's it was a lot so along the way what I did was not necessarily on purpose, but I found myself going okay

These are my rules for coaching

These are the basic ideas these are the things that that that I have to do these things these are things that I care about I

Needed some reminders

Of what it was that I was doing

Why I was doing it and

What I hope the kids would experience

So today I actually want to share my five rules for coaching baseball

So let's open our Bibles

All right, we're open our Bibles to the book of Matthew

Matthew is the first book in what's called the New Testament goes Matthew mark Luke John and so it's called what's one of the Gospels

So if you see Matthew mark Luke John acts Romans any of those you know

You're in the right neighborhood if you don't have a physical Bible and you would like one we have they're blue

They're out on the bookshelf next to the front door feel free to take one of those with you

You know otherwise just download a digital Bible from one of the app stores, okay, so Matthew

19th and we're gonna be 13 and 14 and if you would stand with me as you are willing or able as

We read the scriptures says

This Matthew 19 13 14

Then people brought little children of Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them, but the disciples

Rebuked them Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them

For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these

When he had placed his hands on them then he went on from there. Let's pray

Father God, we thank you for the scriptures

We thank you for your son Jesus

What he taught what he did?

Thank you that we can read about it and learn from it today

Whatever you have for us to learn and pray that it would stick

That would become a part of the framework of our faith that our faith would become stronger that we would be more like your son Jesus

Amen. Thanks. Y'all. You can have a seat

All right, so this isn't one of my baseball rules, but it should just kind of go without

Saying that kids are really important to Jesus

Okay

I'm just gonna give like a little disclaimer right up here at the front that I have Kleenex down here because I cried so many

Times when I was writing this sermon and so just just be prepared men are allowed to cry and many of you

That know me have seen it many times, but I feel like this is one of those important ones

There are things that that we need to understand in the first place

That first baseline is just that kids are really important to Jesus

I

coached

baseball for the kids not just

my kid

Does that make sense?

And I don't think that any coach should coach a team if it's only for

their

Kid I had to care about all the kids or I wasn't going to be

a good coach period

And here at church, that's the primary reason that we've always had treehouse for our kids during the school year

Because kids matter to Jesus

Kids matter to Jesus. He really really likes them

One of the best things that a kid can get at a church is an age-appropriate

Bible lesson with other kids their age and so we need to be able to teach them

Kids their age and so we've just always

Offered that during the school year to our kids. So i'm happy to announce that as always treehouse will be back in mid september

A round of applause. Yes

And i'm thinking maybe for the first time in a number of years

It's gonna it's gonna have just a different field because we've gotten past a lot of challenges

In our society, but we are going to be making a change that we hope will translate into even more kids getting to experience treehouse

The first five and a half years of this church

Some of you were have been here as far back as that treehouse happened

At the same time as this service because we used to meet at rock island high school. Okay

Some of we some of us are having flashbacks. It's fine

We used to meet in rock island high school

So the kids were in the library while the adults were in the little theater and then when we moved here in january of

2019 we kept it that way for a little little time, but we had all this space

We didn't have the same time restraints that we had when we're loading and unloading everything into a school

And so we split it up

We put treehouse at 9 30 and decided to have all the kids in here for the whole service

At 10 30 and i've actually really enjoyed that

I regularly tell parents when they think their kids being loud not nearly as loud as you think they are

It's all just part of it. It's it's all

good

We thought when we made that change when we split it to 9 30 and 10 30

The truth is we thought we would see an attendance drop in treehouse just because we're asking people to come

Earlier in that and that's difficult sometimes and we did

um

But we were hoping that the extra time would actually be a benefit

to

The kids but we also figured that people would eventually just get used to it and then kind of the numbers would go back

To where they were all would and then the world's completely changed

We were only five months into the change when when the world just went absolutely

crazy and so then

Starting in 2020. We just didn't have consistent treehouse for the longest

Time for something like a year and a half and when we did bring it back on sunday mornings instead of 18 ish kids

When we were at rocky and 12 ish kids when we had changed the time now

It was just a few kids

And we always say

You can go check the tape. We always say anytime we make a big change that if it doesn't work

We'll try something else

So we've found that statistically and practically and literally that having treehouse at 9 30 instead of during this service at 10 30

Is translated into just fewer kids getting to go to treehouse

Which means that fewer kids are getting that age-appropriate bible lesson about jesus with other kids their age at the same time and so

We're going to change it back

We're going to change it back with one primary difference

If you're a parent or a guardian bringing your kids, they will start in here with us at 10 30 just like they do

Right now they will worship with us

They will say our weekly prayers with us and then during the two minutes for one question is they're telling each other what their answer is

They'll end up going into treehouse. So while we are having our age-appropriate sermon, they can have their age-appropriate lesson as well

and I know

That that's a big change

But the honest to god truth is that we're doing it just to give more kids a chance to have that age

Appropriate lesson we want kids to be able to climb into god's great

Story, we want to give them the best options that we can it's not required. Of course keep your kids in here

I love your kids in here. It's completely fine

It's not required at all

But we do also recognize that that means that some teachers will miss the sermon a couple times a month

But you will have gotten to worship with everyone and if we have a big team wink wink

If we have a big team, no one will have to serve all that often

And so you will not have to miss my amazing sermons and chris's amazing sermons and jen's amazing sermons

We know how great they are. No one wants to miss any of them

I'm going to make this commitment

If treehouse needs another team member, I'll be on that team. I'll be on your team robin

Because there's almost always a sunday every month one sunday where i'm not the one preaching

So i'll lead songs and i'll put my guitar down and i'll answer two minutes for one question

Then i'll go and i'll serve the kids

Because that matters

Because they're important and them getting this is just one more way that we're trying to help them grow up into who god

Wants them to be so let's just give them the best chance of that that we possibly can because

kids matter to jesus

Now we also plan on having nursery

So we're going to be building that team up and coffee hour in the shed is going to happen at 10 to 10 30

So hours more like in quotes now, it's just only 30 minutes, but it's it'll be great. It's going to be great

okay, so

Now

That is all

Intentional part of my sermon. It was all written down. It wasn't an aside

It is intentionally in here, but you're all probably going that has nothing to do with baseball greg

I thought you were going to tell us your five rules of baseball and you all seem very eager to find out what those were

So repeat after me when I say rule one and then i'll say what the rule is you just say the rule. Okay

Okay rule one have fun

Have fun rule two my bad move on

Number three every position is important

Rule number four baseball is magic

And rule number five keep playing

All right, so i'm gonna go back through those and explain these okay, so first have fun baseball is not worth playing if it's not fun

Period i'm talking about at any age level i'm talking about little kids playing little league i'm talking about people with multi-million dollar contracts as adults

It is not worth playing if it is not fun. It is a sport

It is a sport it is meant to be fun and let me be clear if kids are not having fun

It's not their fault

Can I get an amen a couple of mm-hmms from the back

The adults have to make it a priority to let kids have fun

And I say let on purpose

Because left to their own devices

Most kids are just gonna have fun playing baseball

Left to their own devices most kids are just gonna have fun doing whatever it is that they're doing

Years ago I knew a kid that was on a travel ball team and they quit after one season because of the adults

Parents would be in the stands yelling at the kids like they were professionals throw the ball

Throw the ball run faster. You have to swing harder

I don't know why

Maybe they were trying to live vicariously through their kids

Maybe they were trying to relive the glory days or maybe they were just trying to get back to the ball

Maybe they were trying to relive the glory days or maybe they were just trying to push their kid to be better than they ever would

But at that age it is not fun

When adults don't let them have fun and if it's not fun it is not worth it

When adults are involved in anything that is meant for kids the adults have to be the ones that are intentional about keeping it fun

I coached the all-star team in our third and final game

Instead of having them do a bunch of drills what I did was I just let them play wiffle ball before the game

I could have had them do a bunch of skill drills. I could have had them kneeling on one knee

I could have had them doing extra ground balls or pop flies

Would those drills have made the difference between winning and losing that particular game?

No

They needed to have fun

They needed to have fun in a moment that felt important

Wow, this is so important

They needed to be reminded that the number one reason that they were there was to have fun

So rule one have fun rule two my bad move on

And baseball you have to get really good at moving past your last mistake

Because what was rule number one

Have fun and baseball isn't fun if you're being too hard on yourself

It just isn't

Maybe you're playing third base and the ball gets hit at you like a rope

And you make a bad play you bobble the ball you throw you make a bad throw to first base that kid now

He's on second base. They got someone in scoring position. You can't dwell on the last play

You have to be willing to say my bad move on because in 10 seconds the next kid is going to be up to bat

And the ball might come to you again

And if you are still sulking about what happened on the last play

Then the chances of you making a good play this this time are diminished

You have to get really good at saying my bad move on third every position is important

Here's the truth. Not every kid wants to play shortstop

Some of you don't know what shortstop is

It's an important spot. It's fine. It's an important spot

Not every kid wants to play that spot, but here's the truth whether they admit it or not

Every parent wants their kid to play shortstop

Because shortstop has this perception like it's the most important spot on the field

Even the parents that say they're fine with their kid playing anywhere. I'm good

Whatever is best for the team deep down they want their kid to play shortstop

Or at the very least they want the coach to put their kid in the infield

But every position is important especially listen especially when you get to 12 you 12 and under

Because 10 11 and 12 year olds are starting to hit the ball into the outfield way more than they were in the 8 9 and 10 year old league

Some of these kids are hitting home runs y'all

In our last all-star game at the end of the season one of the kids on that team hit a home run over the fence

The team that ended up winning the local tournament in the last inning they hit three home runs over the fence

They're all 12 and under

But here's the thing this past season we saw plenty of home runs

Where the kid just hit the ball into the outfield and it got past a player

And the kid was fast enough to run all the way around the bases every position

Is important if the kid in the outfield can't catch or at least cut off a line drive then the other team scores extra runs

That's what I told my team all year long if you are on the outfield it is not because it's unimportant

Is because I need you to cut off that ball it's because I need you to catch that ball

I need you to be the one that keeps them from hitting the ball

I need you to catch that ball. I need you to be the one that keeps them from scoring those extra

Runs and not only every position is important, but every player is important

This regular season that I coached this summer sponsored by cool beans by the way

Yep, so thanks to annette and cool beans for sponsoring our baseball team

But when we got to game 11

All right when we got to game 11 we had lost the first 10

We were o n 10

I could get on my soapbox about why teams were a little uneven. It's fine

But I want to tell you a story about a girl named zoe. It's not a real name, but uh,

She was the only girl on our team

And in our first practice it seemed pretty obvious to me that that zoe

Definitely did not want to be there

She wanted to keep her phone in her pocket

She hung out in the dugout longer than anyone else sometimes when we asked everyone to run her jog. She would walk

Don't think that she had ever thrown a ball. I don't think she had ever caught a baseball

I definitely know that she had never swung a bat

But her mom wanted her to play a sport

She had played volleyball the year before apparently she didn't like that very much either and so her mom was like well

You're gonna play on this team with your brother

After the first 10 games listen

Every position is important. Every player is important after the first 10 games

So we had a batting average of zero

Zero zero zero

Zero zero zero with 11 strikeouts and two walks

Oh and she got hit by pitch two times because she'd never played baseball before she didn't know how to get out of the way

Now

By the time that we got to our 11th game

I was starting to feel like as a coach like I was finally getting some things right like

The lineup was starting to make sense because I knew some of the stats these kids had that I just wasn't making it up

I was looking at what they had done and I was shaping the order that they should bat in and we were getting

Closer to winning game. So game 11 in the last inning

We were tied

with two outs

And the winning run was standing on third base

All we needed was a base hit to win this game

You know who was up to bat? Zoe

She watched a couple pitches

She swung at a couple pitches and missed

She ends up having what's called a full count three balls two strikes

You only get four balls or three so she was either going to get a walk or she was going to strike out

Or maybe she was going to get hit we were one strike away from losing one

Ball away from the next batter that was a little better of a batter to come back at the top of the order

Or one hit away from a win

With the person up to bat that had never gotten a hit. So now i'm praying

You know

They say no crying in baseball. There's definitely crying in baseball and i'll tell you right now

There's a lot of praying in baseball a lot of coaches standing on first base going please lord jesus

I will go to church this sunday if you let this kid get a hit

Please lord jesus

So i'm standing on first base because i'm the first base coach because I like to be there to encourage the kids when they get there

And i'm like legit

It's our 11th game. I like jesus, please

I mean, i'm not sure this is how it works, but please

Just please help her just help her help her get a let the you know

Trip the pitcher make them throw a ball. I don't know just let this kid get

On base now everything is in slow motion the pitcher winds up pitch pitching the ball

I see zoe

Starting to swing the bat

And she makes contact

And so i'm on first base i'm like go go go everything's in slow motion

She starts to run the runner on third base starts running home trying to score and then the ball

Gets past the other team

Gets past the other team

She makes it to first base safe

the runner

From third base makes it home everyone is cheering everyone in the dugout is jumping

Up and down as excited as they've been all year long. I run over zoe's just standing on first base

I don't think she has any idea what just happened, but I put my hand on her helmet

I look right at her. I go you just won the game for us. I'm so proud of you

And just like in this moment I was holding back tears as I told her how proud I was of her

In those last six games of the season

We ended up winning three games in a row

Losing two and then tying our last game against the best team in our division

Because every position is important

Because every player

Is important in the first 10 games zoe's batting average was zero, but in those last six it was 500

Which means that she got a hit half the times she was up to bat

Her on base present present

Percentage was 750 which means that she was on base three-fourths of the time in those last six games

I just wanted her to have fun

For whatever reason she didn't want to keep playing volleyball

I just wanted her to learn how to move on from the strikeouts

And to know that even if she never played baseball before and if she never got a hit that entire season that she was

important

At our awards ceremony at the end of the year

Everybody got the same exact trophy

Said the exact same thing on it

Same exact shape but I told the entire team that zoe was our mvp because she was the most improved

And she never quit

And she never quit

So we have fun

We say my bad and we move on every position and every player is important

Because rule four baseball is magic

That moment when zoe got the game-winning hit that was magic

It felt like magic it actually

It's better than magic. It's better than illusion you see on stage because it's real

So now I have a confession to make all right

This is something that you're not really supposed to say about baseball because baseball is magic

Because baseball is real but because baseball is real baseball can be kind of boring sometimes

I can't i'm sorry. I I love I love baseball but

A lot of baseball is just watching something not happen

Does that make sense?

I mean

Something is happening someone is pitching and someone is catching and someone is up to bat

But if no one's getting hits if no one's scoring runs if no one is getting on base

Then i'm sorry. It can be

It can be boring

Until it's not

Baseball has this way of surprising you with moments

Has this way of having magical moments sneak up on you

Has these moments that are both exciting and sometimes scary

Moments that are triumphant and heartbreaking

And it's the boring it is the mundane that actually leads to the magic

I want to show you what i'm talking about

I got a little video. I want to show you this

Just happened this video we're going to show this just happened this week at the little league world series

And don't don't worry. Everyone's okay. All right

But watch watch this video

Oh my god, that's awesome

Oh look out oh my god, that's awesome

Wow, that is a tough kid right there

So

This is really cool because as a pitcher bubs looks shaking up right now

Because of what he did and look at zay jarvis. This is such great sportsmanship

He wants him to know that it's okay that he'll be fine

Um

What a stud right there zay jarvis

Tears anyone

I'm gonna tell you something about baseball. It's a game of

If baseball was just a competition

It was just a battle if it was just a game with winners and losers than this moment of deep humanity this magical moment

Where one kid comforts his opponent

Would never happen

And they would never know how to do the right thing not just with a baseball but with each other

That kid that got hit he knew that baseball was supposed to be fun

He knew that this pitcher needed to just say my bad and move on he knew that this kid was important

And I think that he knew that in that moment that there was potential

for magic

Sometimes you have to look for the moment that's meant to be magic.

You have to be willing to leave the base you're standing on.

To hand it to someone else.

So have fun. My bad, move on. Every position is important.

Baseball is magic. Rule five, keep playing.

This is honestly probably less of a rule and just more of a hope that I have.

My hope as a coach is that these kids will want to keep playing, hopefully baseball, maybe another sport.

That's fine. But if they, and if they don't, at the very least, it is my hope that because of how I coached them,

that they'll believe that they're wanted and that they are important.

And that it is possible, it is actually possible to be on a team

or even follow a leader that cares and can be trusted.

Because so many kids give up or quit and I think it's mostly because the adults that failed them.

Adults told them they weren't good enough at baseball to keep having fun.

Adults told them they couldn't just move on after they made a mistake.

I had one kid on my team that told me at the end of the game

they knew they were going to get a lecture all the way home because of how they played.

Adults are the ones that keep telling kids that certain positions are more important than others

and it's adults that suck the magic out of baseball.

The adults should be able to control their own emotions and their own expectations.

Because if they won't, if us, if we as adults, if we won't, why would kids want to keep playing?

This is where it should be like abundantly obvious that everything I've said today isn't only about baseball.

It's parabolic. It's a metaphor for this church. It's a metaphor for Christianity.

For our own kids, for the kids in our community that need to know Jesus.

Because whether our kids have fun and learn to move on, whether they feel important or see magical moments,

whether they feel like they can keep believing, has a lot to do with us and how we coach them, how we disciple them.

Whether they see us doing these things, we can follow these same rules and I can follow these same rules

in how I pastor this church. Rule one, have fun. The word fun does not show up in the Bible, but it is all throughout it.

It's in creation. It's in the Psalms. It's in the friendship between David and Jonathan.

It's in the way Jesus welcomed children when the adults were being too stuffy.

Following Jesus should be fun, especially for kids. Because we all know this, a lot of life does end up being hard.

But fun is age appropriate, no matter how old you are.

Years ago, years ago I heard someone telling kids to stop climbing on the chairs at the church that I was at.

So I pulled the adult aside and corrected the adults.

Kids should run in church with their parents' permission. Kids should climb in church.

Kids should not be punished and made to pay for things they accidentally broke in a church.

Because kids need to have fun, not the existential threat of something being wrong.

And I think adults, we need to learn again how to have fun in church.

Two, my bad, move on. Jesus wants us to be the kind of people that forgive.

Because that is what God is like. We're told this over and over again. Forgiveness is codified in the only prayer that the Bible records.

Jesus teaching his disciples, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And we're not only meant to forgive others, but ourselves.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your mind.

The second commandment is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. How do you love yourself if you can't forgive yourself?

And how do you love your neighbor if you only love yourself halfway?

Following Jesus means that we acknowledge our sin and our mistakes. And because of what God has done, because of who he is, we move on.

We can't get stuck on our errors because the next play is about to happen.

We need to have fun. We need to forgive and move on. Rule three, every position is important.

Jesus taught his disciples that the rulers of this world lowered their power over others, but they were meant to be different.

That for them, the first was last, the last was first, the best served the least.

Later, Paul would teach that the church, that every part of the church deserves honor.

Listen, I might be the one that in general when I'm not on sabbatical, preaches the most.

I might be the one that plays guitar. You might see me in the front a lot, but every volunteer on our framework team is important.

And there is no position on that team that is unimportant. There is no person on that team that is unimportant.

When the facility crew comes and cleans the building without anyone else realizing that it happens,

when someone makes the coffee or waters the plants, when your kids are taught in tree house,

when the communion gets put under your chairs, or when the sound gets turned up or down,

when someone gives one dollar or a thousand, every person in every position is important.

But not just the people giving or serving on the framework team. Every person matters.

Because the Bible doesn't say for God so love the people that serve.

It doesn't say for God so love the people that showed up. God so love the world. God loves everyone.

We aren't just here for the people that show up. We are here for everyone that God is here for.

Not as everyone. Because while church isn't magic, it is miraculous.

The idea that two or more can gather and get along for any length of time, let alone 2,000 years, is a miracle.

Because Jesus is among them. For the church to have persisted for two millennia is miraculous.

Because there aren't any perfect churches, are there? There aren't.

There aren't any perfect people. And yet we still have churches.

And maybe church feels boring most of the time for some people,

but it only makes the moments of miraculous all that more special.

Like, how about the idea of giving to God through the local church seems boring to some of us.

But here's the thing, in the last eight months we have given away thousands of dollars to people that are in need.

That's miraculous. Just this summer, summer which is notoriously a time where you wonder if you're going to hit budget,

but just this summer you all gave above and beyond the budget needs and we gave $2,500 to tuition needs,

to people that had babies, to people with car issues and to missions.

And maybe for the first time ever, maybe since the first year of this church, we've gone January through the end of July without missing budget once.

Listen, and we did it after a pandemic, during inflation and a looming recession.

That feels pretty miraculous to me.

Maybe you feel like you haven't had your miraculous moment yet, but I believe that it's here.

And I think if I have been any kind of pastor this past nine years,

it's been the kind of pastor that's just trying to help people to keep playing, to not give up.

This summer, someone that had been a part of our church for four years had to move away

and she wrote me a letter saying that if it hadn't been for the way I'd pastored her,

how I walked with her through the most difficult time of her life, she just wouldn't believe in Jesus anymore.

This past week I sat with someone and I asked if they had faith and religion in their background

and they said they used to, but they had watched as the church excommunicated their close family friend because their child was gay.

She said that lately she's been trying to believe in God and I told her it's just amazing and special that she hasn't given up.

I'm affirming I am anti-racist. I am always learning as a pastor in part because I just don't want people to give up on the goodness of God

because I believe that maybe God is just a little bit better than so many of us have allowed him to be.

And I believe that we are and we have the opportunity to create here a culture where people will just keep playing.

They will keep trying. They won't put the ball down and go home.

Because this should be fun, y'all. Amen.

This should be forgiving.

If there is anywhere on earth that everyone should know that they are important, it should be here.

It should be in the church because it's not magic, but it's miraculous.

Let me say this as I close, even if only a couple of those things happen at any one time, maybe that will be enough to help them keep playing.

We won't be perfect all the time. As a church, we won't hit every base.

Maybe we can help people keep playing, to keep believing, to keep looking because Jesus never stops looking for them.

Amen. Let's pray.

Father God, we thank you for your word.

And I thank you for baseball.

I thank you for all the games, all the sports, all the silly ways that we come up with to spend our time.

And I thank you that you can even teach us something through those.

Help us to love you, to follow you, to trust you, to have fun, to forgive, to really treat everyone like they're important,

to look for the miracles and keep playing. In the name of Jesus, amen.