Letter from the Pastor – July 2024
Dear Church,
Currently, the Church Elders are reading the book, God, Improv, and the Art of Living by Maryann McKibben Dana. The book is about how a life of faith does not have to be rigid and overly-structured, but can be a life lived improvisationally. Improvisation can be done in any part of our life, and recently I was thinking of one of the most improvisational things I have ever seen. It took place on a baseball diamond. It happened during a game in 2021 between my beloved Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cub’s shortstop Javier Baez (Now a better-paid but less effective shortstop for the Detroit Tigers) came up with a runner on second base and two outs. He hit a groundball to the Pirate’s third basemen who threw to first base to try and get the force out there. Unfortunately for the Pirates the throw pulled the first basemen off the base. Instead of trying to get the automatic force out by going back to step on the base, the first basemen decided he would try and tag Baez for the out. Baez saw this attempt and began retreating toward home plate. Now, once you have left home plate you cannot go back, you must go to first, but that didn’t stop Baez from trying to go back home, nor did it stop the Pirate first basemen from chasing after him trying to get the tag. While all of this was going on, the Cub runner from second base alertly kept running the bases, rounding third and approaching home plate from the correct direction. When the Pirates saw this the first basemen, who had chased Baez back to within a couple feet of home plate on the first base side, lobbed a throw to the catcher to try and keep the runner from scoring. The throw was late, the runner beat it, but since there were two outs the run would not count as long as they got Baez out before he reached first base safely. However, during all the chaos none of the Pirates players had covered first base, so when the catcher threw down the line there was nobody to take the throw. It went into right field and Baez kept on running until he reached second base safely. The run counted.
At the time, many baseball observers praised this play for the creativity and the baseball instincts that Javier Baez displayed in doing the seemingly impossible – stealing first base. They seemed to imply that he knew exactly what he was doing. As I thought about it, however, I realized there was something else at play here. Baez was certainly creative, and he certainly showed good instincts, but the reason that he was able to make a play that ridiculous (something he does regularly, by the way) is because he pairs those traits with a joy in playing the game of baseball, and the ability to stay in the present moment. He probably didn’t know what he was doing, he was just as confused as everyone else, but by staying in the moment and approaching it with joy, he was able to adapt, improvise, and make the best of the situation. As I thought about this, I couldn’t help but envy that ability. Not the baseball ability, but the ability to give attention and joy to the moment and the task at hand.
What if were able to apply a similar joy and attention to our own lives – to our work, to our families, to our church. The ability to approach each moment attentively, with a joy and excitement for the life we are blessed with, could help us adapt and make the best of tough situations. If we approached our life of faith with an attention to God’s presence in the moment and a joy in that relationship, what sort of lives could we live, what sort gifts could we share? If we worshiped God with joy and attentiveness, what sort of renewal could we experience every Sunday morning? Like Javy Baez on the baseball field, it could be something magical.
With Joy and attentiveness,
Pastor Zach