Centering on God and Basketball

I love basketball. I would play for hours shooting hoops at the basket set up on our barn, and coming up with scenarios of "the final minutes" and how I could out play some of the biggest women's basketball stars. Cheryl Miller and Nancy Lieberman had NOTHING on me!

So, it was odd the other day when I found myself visualizing a basketball court as I sat in prayer. I could feel the roughness of the dimpled synthetic leather ball. And I remembered the sounds of my sneakers squeaking on the floor as I would drop step into a defensive position and cut off avenues for my opponent to drive to the basket. I couldn't put together how centering prayer on God and basketball came to get married in my brain. And so, I've been letting it alone, allowing it to have its time to percolate. And now, I have a couple of thoughts on it.

My spiritual director has noted that doing centering prayer is a little like practicing your tennis serve. It takes practice to get it right. I can appreciate the metaphor because I've seen tennis, and my mom played tennis. But I'm not a tennis player (I have an unfortunate knack for hitting a tennis ball as if it's a baseball and I don't think sending the thing flying over the fence is the point!) So, giving myself a metaphor that works for me: centering prayer is like practicing foul shots. Like a tennis serve, one must learn the rhythm and the ability to focus on the basket against all other distractions in order to shoot well from the line. With enough practice, the art of shooting a foul shot becomes second nature. The same is true of centering prayer. With enough practice and discipline to sit and allow an opening for God, the more this will be part of my everyday experience.

This is not only an adequate description of practicing centering prayer as a specific opening of one's self to God. The same goes for having faith in general. Through the ritual of prayer, or singing, or the weekly or daily prayer and Eucharist, these are means of making intentional time with God and prepping ourselves for the possibility that God really will be with us in all times and in all places and under all circumstances. To me, having faith in God means that we will accept that there is something greater than ourselves who keeps holding us and unfolding before us new paths to tread.

The basketball imagery also sparked a thought about team work. We've been talking about stewardship at St. John's and the need for everyone to pitch in to help keep that community alive and moving forward. The most successful basketball teams are the ones that do not rely on one person to carry the load. In fact, those are the teams that fail. The same is true of the church. It is not realistic to sit back and expect the rector to make wonderful things happen in the church, or a fantastic assistant to keep the fires burning and the youth happy or a few lay people to do the heavy lifting. It takes the whole community being willing to participate in the life of the community. With a new priest-in-charge coming on board, this would be the time to consider if there is something more that each of us can bring to that life.

Can we commit some more money to our pledges?

Can we volunteer where it's needed?

Are we over committed and need to make room for someone else?

Can we add some depth to this team by extending the reach of welcome to those communities of people who may be looking for a spiritual home where they can worship God through Christ without somebody swinging a Bible across their heads like a baton?

Can we offer a cup of coffee to a person in need of kindness?

As a team, we can continue building up our community. That, I think, is what it means to live into the body of Christ.