The theme for our G.I.F.T. program this year is, "Catch the Spirit!" I chose this theme three years ago, when laying out a four-year cycle for our curriculum. At the time, I just thought a sports theme would be fun and easy, and I liked the play on the word "spirit." With the kids, we'll talk about being a part of a team - working together, cheering each other on, and so forth. But as a parent, thinking about this theme has me looking at sports in a whole new way.
My son, who is eight, has just started playing football through our city's athletic association. He has played some other sports over the past few years - baseball, basketball, and even a season of track. In those sports, I noticed the occasional over-the-top parent or coach, but for the most part everyone was there to learn and to have fun. In football, however, even in third grade there is already a much stronger emphasis on competition and winning, and there seems to be a lot more yelling. I've been to a few games, and it is not unusual to see a coach go a little red in the face and yell, "What were you thinking?!" or, "What are you doin' out there?!" I cringe at that sort of behavior, and I was happy to hear my son say after one of his games, "I'm glad our coaches don't scream at us like that!" This is certainly not what I was thinking when I came up with "Catch the Spirit" as a faith formation theme. But it did inspire me to ask myself (and now you):
What kind of coach would God be?
There was an episode on the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" in which one of the characters - a kindergarten teacher - was given the job of coaching a pee-wee basketball team. Her style of coaching was to play a guitar and sing songs about being OK just the way you are while the children ran around the gym in chaos. She brought in her boyfriend to help, and his style was of the yelling and intimidating variety. In the end, neither of their approaches proved very effective. After seeing different styles of coaching in our football program, it occurred to me that most of us, as adults, would probably associate God with a particular type of coach, based on the way we were raised. So what is your image of God? If you picture God as a coach, do you see a guitar player, a yeller, or something else entirely? Is the image that comes to your mind the one you want to share with your children?
In the book Sacred Hoops, NBA coach Phil Jackson writes, "...the only way to win consistently was to give everybody - from the stars to the number 12 player on the bench - a vital role on the team, and inspire them to be acutely aware of what was happening, even when the spotlight was on somebody else." I think Phil may have taken his coaching cues from Jesus himself. After all, the New Testament is filled with examples of Jesus meeting his followers where they were, drawing out their gifts, and inspiring them to live for something bigger than themselves. This is the kind of coach that I think God would be. This is the kind of parent I want to be. This is the spirit I carry into a new G.I.F.T. year!
