The National Championship and the Church

Okay, forgive me people, but Duke basketball analogies are constantly on my mind...and even for Carolina fans it has the potential to bring good news...

1. The little things

This year Duke had one of those teams that in the beginning of the year no one thought would make it very far. I remember losing so much of my confidence with the loss of Greg Paulus (the emotional heart), Gerald Henderson (the slasher), Elliot Williams (the up-and-coming freshman) and some of our key bench players (Dave McClure, Marty Pocious, and Olek Czyz). But in the ashes of these loses emerged a Duke team that relied on teamwork and became winners because they were a unit rather than talented individuals. What would the Church be like if we could learn to play like a team that works well together rather than be rugged individuals? What would the Church looked like if we learned how to cherish our memories together? What would it look like if we learned to look for miracles in small places?

2. The Glory of Victory

Although I watched the game from Cameron, it took me a few days to realize that we had won. It began to sink in once I saw the bookstore fill with National Championship t-shirts. When campus started to flood with outside visitors. When even the ghettos of Durham were even pumping out their own $5 T-shirt designs in honor of the win. When the coaches and players returned to give their testimony. When we as fans gathered to remember and talk about what happened. Even in the days and weeks afterward folks began to proudly wear their newly minted Duke gear. And then it made me realize that someone else, namely the team, had to secure this win so that the rest of us could have the right to say that "we" too had won the National Championship. I think this is what Church is supposed to be like. Gathering to remember, to witness, to testify...all because someone else secured our victory and gave us a right to have a new name (National Champions/Beloved of God) written on our chests and hearts.

3. The Discipline of Celebration

The excitement around following the win was amazing. It came with deep laughter, light-hearted love and amazement and butterflies! I can't help feeling the elation again when I watch videos from Cameron where the students erupt into pure joy!!! My eyes water, my heart skips a beat and a smile cannot be quieted from my face. At first I jokingly told my friend Allison who is an IV staffworker at Duke to play Cascada's "Everytime We Touch" at the regional summer camp in front of everyone at dinner. I knew that the song would cause the Crazies to jump out of their seats and into a jumping frenzy! To rationalize it I said, "Just tell the others to enter into our joy" and to "rejoice with those who rejoice." And then I realized that maybe that isn't too far from the Church's job. If we practiced these disciplines of sharing with one another and celebrating together then how much more could we learn to be One with each other as Jesus prayed while in the garden of Gethsemane (John 16)?