The Visiting Team

The Royals are 22-15 in games played at home and 22-18 in games where they visited the other teams' stadiums (as of this writing). Like most teams, they are more likely to win at home than away. It's called the "home field advantage."  The reasons for the advantage are many:

The surrounding crowd is on your side cheering you on. They cheer when you do something well and they are quiet or supportive (or jeering) when you do something poorly. When the game is close, they are excited and urge you on. They hold up signs with your name on them, give away bobble heads with your face on them, and they eagerly seek out your autograph.

The park is far more familiar to you than to the other team. You know how the ball bounces off of the walls, where the warning track is, where the wind catches a fly ball, at what angles the lights get in your eyes. You know how the ball skips off of the turf and how far to go for a good lead off the base. This is where you practice hitting and shagging balls day after day, so the park is just part of your game. The dugout is your dugout and the locker room is your locker room. All the support staff are familiar to you and are on your side. You might even live nearby with your family, rather than living out of a suitcase in a hotel.

You are familiar with all the sights and sounds, which songs are played when, even the phrases that are unique to this team in this park. In other words, the "culture" of this park is your culture.

When you play in another team's stadium, the crowd is for the other team, the park is less familiar and not "yours," and the culture is not your culture. And so, they have the advantage.

The church is the "visiting team." We come from "out of town" to this world. In general, the crowd is not cheering for us, but are cheering for the "home team." When you do something poorly, they heckle. They don't hold up signs with your name on them, but the names of their heroes. Virtually no one seeks out your autograph. The world is more familiar with this "park" than you are - it's their locker room. All the sights and sounds are their culture.

We're the visiting team. But we've been acting like we're supposed to be the home team. How inviting is this: We're expecting the world to come into our park where all the fans cheer us on, not them; they hold up signs for us, not them; the "park" is more familiar to us, not them; all the sights, sounds, and lingo are our culture, not theirs. We want the home field advantage, but it's the least inviting offering possible. "Come to us, where we have the advantage, and you have the disadvantage. Interested?" But we were never sent to be the home team. Jesus sent us to be the away team.

We've been expecting to be the home team, and now we're facing the clear reality that we're not the home team. Furthermore, it's not working. Expecting the world to come into our park and be the away team is not a strategy that works any longer.

I want to be careful with this analogy. The goal here is not to "win" the game by beating the other team. The goal is to be engaged with the world in the "game" itself - to be engaged in the same game of human existence, but to demonstrate how to play the game according to Christ. They won't play in our park much. We must play in their park - we must be the away team, giving them the home field advantage. Rather than tell them what we think of their park, we need to show the how followers of Jesus play the game, even in their park.

Home Run the Movie

In the software business, I got a lot of free shirts. I didn't realize how many until I left the business and suddenly had to start buying my own shirts again. In pastoral ministry, I don't get many free shirts, but I do get to screen some movies for free. Producers of family-friendly movies love to invite pastors to see the movie, provide their feedback, and then (hopefully) put in a good word for the movie with their congregations. It's business, sure, but it's also nice to hear from one's pastor that he's seen a particular movie and can recommend it.

Last week, I got to see Home Run (http://www.homerunthemovie.com/), opening April 19. Cory Brand is a professional baseball player struggling with alcoholism and unresolved issues from his childhood. A series of bad decisions forces him to spend some time away from the game, where he finally begins to face his problems.

The movie earned a PG-13 rating, primarily because it openly discusses a variety of struggles that adults face, in the context of a recovery group. The discussions are not gratuitous or salacious, but they are direct. For example, one person talks (non-graphically) about his addiction to internet porn, and another talks about being abused as a child. Parents should decide whether or not their children are ready for those topics to come up - please don't take your kids unless you are able to guide them in discussing the issues at a conceptual level.

The production quality of the movie is generally good. There was only one actor I felt was weak, and she simply overplayed her character (I get the impression she was a sweet person trying to play a sassy person). The child actors held their own, but were not stand outs. The rest of the cast was enjoyable to watch. The first third of the movie was a less than smooth in its storytelling, but the remainder of the movie flowed well, had good pace and rhythm, and kept me engaged. Some of the camera work extended beyond storytelling and allowed us to appreciate the sights and sounds. The movie will not garner any major movie awards, and because of its strong Christian theme, will likely receive open criticism.

The story centers on the Christian ministry called Celebrate Recovery, which helps people deal with all kinds of addictions and other recovery situations. In some ways, the movie was a commercial for the ministry, but because CR does good work, I don't mind. Unlike some recent Christian-themed movies, Home Run does not set any false expectations that once you put your faith in Christ, everything is going to work out in the end. The CR scenes are clear that Christians are not magically freed from their problems, but that Christ is our greatest hope in the midst of those problems.

The biggest critique I put in my comments for the screening is that the movie does not really address the Atonement (the work of Jesus on the Cross to satisfy God's wrath for our sin). Yes, the message is that Jesus can provide recovery for us, but that's not the main reason Jesus came. Leaving out the Atonement runs the risk of preaching a "therapeutic Gospel" - that Jesus came to make our lives better. Instead, Jesus came to make unworthy sinners fit for God's holy and loving presence forever.

I do recommend the movie with enthusiasm. I believe people struggling with addictions can identify with one or more characters, and will be challenged with the idea that Jesus and the community of believers can bring victory. I do hope that people join CR after seeing this. The movie can spark conversations with your friends and loved ones who may struggle (and it can challenge any of us who struggle). The story is good, is not entirely predictable, and engages your emotions. It's a rare combination of a "clean" movie that dives into mature topics with some measure of realism.

It doesn't have the full Gospel overtly presented so that the viewer is directly challenged with the claims of Christ, but it does rightly show that addictions and dysfunctions can be successfully addressed within the Christian community relying primarily on Jesus.

Check out the website, and even use the site to campaign to make sure it opens in our area. Go see it, bring friends and family, and use it as a springboard to talk about important issues. Plus, it's a baseball movie, so I automatically like it!