GOOD FAITH FOR THE COMMON GOOD

Good Faith and the Co= mmon Good

Occasional Offeri= ngs from Sam Candler on issues of faith, church, and the world.<= /p>

= SPRING TRAINING

It&= #8217;s time for baseball again.

Thi= s is the time of year I make my formal apology to non-sports fans everywhere, as I t= ake the time to rejoice in the ritual of baseball’s spring training. I suppose I must also apologize to the fans of other sports, those sports whi= ch are ever so noble but regrettably inferior to baseball.

As = our winter takes another chilly turn, baseball players gather in Florida and Arizona for spring training. Seasoned veterans and raw rookies all have hope in the= ir veins. They will make the team this year, after years of “almost.R= 21; All the batters believe that batting .300 is achievable. All the pitchers believe 15 wins or 20 saves is achievable. Everyone’s home team has a chance to win the pennant. All baseball fans, from the wisest newspaper wri= ters to the most naïve local fans, take a renewed interest in the home team. Baseball in the spring is the very definition of “hope springs eternal.”

Hop= e and endurance are the foundations of success in baseball. Baseball is the sport= for those who can endure, and hope is the source of that endurance. Baseball is= the sport of endurance. First off, of course, is the sheer length of its incess= ant schedule. Even the worst professional team will play 162 games this year. T= he difference between a first place team and a second place may turn out to be= one game among those 162.

Bas= eball is the sport of humble aspirations. By “humble,” I mean down-to-ea= rth. There will be no such thing as a team that wins every game, or even a batter who gets a hit in every game. In fact, the expectations are much more “down-to-earth,” “humble.” A successful batter need= s to get a hit only 30% of the time. A player’s inner hope and emotional endurance will inspire him to return to the batters’ box after he has made seven outs in a row. After all, three successive hits in a row would t= hen give him that ongoing .300 batting average.

Bas= eball will test the endurance of fans, too. It takes a lot of time to appreciate = and enjoy the art of baseball. Fewer and fewer of us tend to devote much time to anything these days. We prefer the quick e-mail message, the short phone ca= ll, the casual glance at the newspaper or the television news. The game of base= ball introduces long periods of no action into the game. A play itself lasts only twenty seconds; and then we all wait two or three minutes for the next play= . By then, many of us have changed the channel.

But= the art of baseball lies in appreciating those moments between the actual plays. For the game of baseball is the thinking and strategizing over how that play wi= ll develop. How do the fielders position themselves? What pitch does the pitch= er throw? What will the batter anticipate? Who is scheduled to bat next inning? Who is warming up in the bullpen? The play itself is quick; the art–t= he discipline—takes a lifetime.

I c= ould go on, just like baseball goes on and on. But if you’ve read this far, y= ou deserve the closing Christian analogy. The analogy is that we all need Spri= ng Training. We all need to get our muscles and training routines back into sh= ape. We all need a review of techniques and strategies. We all need to work on w= hat we are supposed to meditate on “between plays,” or between cris= es. We all need to renew our hope and our endurance.

In = the church, we have another name for this Spring Training. We call it Lent. It’s time to get our aching prayer routines back into shape. It’= ;s time to renew our hope. It’s time to focus on what God really wants u= s to do in this life. We call it Lent. It is the intentional training of our spiritual lives, so that we can succeed in the long season of resurrection life.

5 M= arch 2009

Sam = Candler is Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta, Georgia. Contact him at scandler@stphilipscathedra= l.org.
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