American Sports Culture

I am guilty as anyone! Athletics holds such an important place in my life and has for so many years. My junior high & high school years were spent preparing for, recovering from, or dreaming about the game - basketball, baseball, soccer, football. There is no telling how many miles, dollars, and hours were expended on athletic pursuits. All the way through college, the majority of my time and identity were intimately tied to athletics. Countless relationships & memories were the direct result of my participation in basketball. Not the least of theses was my relationship with my dad and men at church. I cannot underestimate the good that came into my life & the influence I was able to have was incredible.

However, the American culture of sports is not all it's cracked up to be! Chap Clark in his book Hurt - a reflective multi-year study of American youth culture - argues that youth today are experiencing a "systemic abandonment" from the adult generations. In other words, young people are detached from previous generations and forced to basically raise themselves. Clark argues that athletics is one of the main ways that adults "abandon" youth. We equate "spending time with our children" with taking them to and from practices and ballgames. In doing so, we offer them no alternative to a culture which idolizes athletics and permits them to sense their worth via their performance. The premium on athletics is astounding!

As I write this post, sportcasters are hyped up about Brett Favre's return to Lambeau Field as a Minnesota Viking. Words and phrases like "He's a traitor" are thrown around by fans full of pure hatred and disgust for a man they adored for almost two decades. Lines are drawn along superficial boundaries (i.e. sports teams) and "allegiances" are shifted with the drop of a hat. I fully admit that I don't have a favorite team that I follow. And, say, Packer fans freely admit that non-Packer fans cannot understand their passion and allegiance....I think I'm okay with that! I don't think I want to understand something that draws lines and defines relationships based on a game - a temporary and short-term sport. It is not athletics that I take issue with; It has much to offer in terms of work ethic, perseverance, teamwork, etc. It is, however, an attitude and perspective that allows sports to take such an important place that other more important items are ignored.

Updates...

1. We brought Bryan home with us from the hospital on Thursday. He is doing well and we are (re)adjusting well to life with a newborn. Garrett & Luke are in Elkhorn with my parents for a week or so & enjoying time on the farm. Bryan didn't sleep all that well (as in not much at all) last night but he is adjusting okay. I have already changed several poopy diapers (go me) and he is a pooping machine!
   
2. I am on vacation until Tuesday. I was blessed with 9-10 days off from work for the birth and adjustment at home with the newbie! Soaking up as much time as possible while I have it.
   
3. On Tuesday I start probably the toughest three month stretch of the year. I start out with Orthopedic Surgery during November and I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am in Detroit, MI to do orthopedic surgery and this is the area of medicine I am most passionate about. However, ortho service is one of the most time-consuming services and will require me to be away from the family for a great deal of time. After a month of orthopedics, I spend December downtown in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) and then January downtown doing orthopedic trauma surgery -- all very hard and time-consuming months.
   
4. We are really enjoying our church - Rochester Church of Christ - and have really enjoyed exploring small groups and meeting the people there.
   

What a Day!!

Today Bryan David Stephens made his grand entrance into the world at 4:12 pm as a 9lb, 20.5 inch bundle of joy. Jenn was in labor for about 4 hrs or so but only had to push for 10 minutes before his melon surfaced. Everything went smoothly and Jenn and Bryan are both doing well. Bryan got to meet Garrett and Luke within about 4 hrs of birth and we had flashbacks to Garrett's assault on Luke a little under 2 years ago. However, both boys were amazingly sweet and though there was certainly jealousy, there was no overt hostility. My parents are in town staying with the boys at our home and they have been such a blessing.

Admirers & Followers

Sunday morning Patrick and Adam co-preached on the centrality of the resurrection for those who claim to be Christ-followers. Though we often associate the cross as the primary symbol of our faith, this is in fact wrong. The primary symbol of Christianity is an empty tomb - the symbol that tells the world the power of death has been defeated once and for all & Satan has been humiliated and relegated to fighting a battle he knows he will one day lose. For us as Christians, we claim this man Jesus as our Lord and the bearer of good news for the entire world.

And yet Stanley Hauerwas is correct in saying that many Christians are content to be admirers of Jesus rather than followers - and there is a huge difference. After all, what's not to admire? Jesus is a man of compassion, strength in difficult situations, love, joy, generosity, and humility. He performs amazing miracles of healing and restoration to people regardless of socioeconomic status. He stood up to and challenged the religious and political leaders of the day. How can you not like this man? However, what does it mean to follow this man? When Jesus stands up against the oppression of the poor and calls his followers to treat the poor as they would Jesus, I can no longer simply applaud Jesus for his compassion but must in turn show compassion. It is one thing to admire Jesus for taking his cross and dying for the people who hate him. It is another thing to take up one's own cross and follow his example, even if it means dying for those who hate you.

Admirers sit on the sidelines and clap. Followers get in the game.

Cass Park - Part 2

How do you solve a problem that is 140 square miles big? These questions and more were asked by several of us who traveled to the heart of Detroit to Cass Park - one of the most economically suppressed areas in one of the most the United States. Staring at the trash-strewn park across the street from the majestic Masonic Temple and a nationally renowned high school, it is difficult to ward off the fffeeling of despair and hopelessness about what can be done in the face of such difficult circumstances.

What is call of Jesus and the cross in the face of money and power? What exactly are we supposed to do against such odds? A friend stated that he thought there was "a better chance of ending world hunger than saving Detroit!" Our faith says that the creator of the universe has a preferential option for the people of Cass Park. Our eyes and ears tell us that the rich are getting richer at the expense of the powerless with nothing to stop their advance. Faith states that the people of Cass Park possess the divine imprint of God. And yet the people of Cass Park live, breathe, and die in the obscure shadows of a world that could care less.

And yet amidst these insurmountable odds, there is encouragement. I am encouraged when I hear that a local college plans to purchase a house in an urban area for students to live and engage the community around it with the good news of Jesus. I am encouraged when I hear a young lady passionate for kingdom justice say she would like to move into the Cass Park area. That is encouraging, though so little in the face of so much!

The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed...

Cass Park - Part 1

Yesterday I traveled to downtown Detroit, MI to a trash-covered spot of grass known as Cass Park. For the past three years a group from Rochester Church of Christ has taken food to the homeless population every month. On the third Sunday of every month, suburbanites pile into vans, cars, and SUVs to make the 30 minute commute to the "hood" of Detroit. We pile out of our cars, strike up our grills, serve the homeless a hot meal with a drink, and spend roughly 2-3 hours visiting & praying with the people who call that area home.

It was a beautiful fall day! The sun was shining amidst the dark realities that frame each day of these people's lives. As we served chicken casserole, rolls, and drinks to approximately 100 men, women, & children (the youngest was 4 years old), the ever-widening chasm of rich people getting richer and the poor people getting poorer was blatant. Surrounding this park that is known as one of the roughest areas of Detroit (always in the running for the least safe place in the continental US) are signs of incredible wealth and prosperity. The Masonic Temple, a majestic building adorned with unique architectural emblems of the Masons and castle-like towers. The building is owned by the family of the Little Caesar's empire (they also own the Detroit Tigers & the Detroit Red Wings). They also own much of the real estate surrounding Cass Park & there have been discussions of this family buying Cass Park to turn into a new arena for the Red Wings. Across the park on the opposite side is Cass Technical High School - one of the premier high schools in the entire nation. Boasting a new building with the most up-to-date technology and touting impressive stats of accomplishments and accolades, hundreds of homeless live literally across the street.

In the shadow of these structures live the very people Jesus came to serve. When Luke says "Blessed are the poor," the faces of Marcia, Little Bit, Greg, John, Darrell, & Norm come to mind. Faces marked by years of hard lives, bad decisions, substance abuse, despair for the future, and in some the absence of dignity robbed from them at no fault of their own. I asked John what it was like to live down here and his response: "You guys blow in here and the blow back out. Be glad. Be real glad!" Little Bit, a lifetime homeless lady and friend to many in our group, wept over the need to continually ask for help. The day before (Saturday), she found a friend of hers dead in his apartment.

What is there to be done about a situation like Cass Park in the midst of a city like Detroit? Who is willing to advocate for the poorest of the poor and look after their interests? How do you solve a problem that is 140 square miles large (the size of the city of Detroit proper)? What do terms like justice & the kingdom of God & incarnational ministry look like in this context?

“A church which pitches its tents, without constantly looking for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling . . . We must play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, live by improvisation and experiment.”—Hans Küng

Great Communion

Yesterday I attended the correcting of a 103 year old separation between branches of the Stone-Campbell Movement - Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, & Disciples of Christ. This year marks the 200 year anniversary of the Declaration & Address - a document written by Thomas Campbell that laid the groundwork for our movement. All across the nation, churches from these streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement united for a communion service together. We met at Rochester Church of Christ with several other churches from our area for a little over an hour of worship time, singing, scripture reading, prayer, and communion! It was a great experience to have lived to have experienced the restoration of such long-standing divisions. I couldn't help but look at my sons thinking how they had no idea how significant this moment was in our history and how I hoped they would not have to live in the midst of the divisions that have marked our past. Praise God for what happened yesterday at the Great Communion!! For more information, please see www.greatcommunion.org