Why Do the Banners Fly? (Bot9 #356)
Last week I had the opportunity to conduct a “Sport as Worship” training for a private school in Atlanta with a colleague. She and I have spent the better part of three years growing and refining the program to the point where it is shareable and repeatable. During the training, near the end after we had really landed some big ideas with the group, a point of tension was brought up by one of the coaches. As he shared, another coach chimed in with even more passion. Ultimately, the question boils down to this idea - “Have you seen any Christian school around the country not tout their accomplishments with banners or other extraneous measures?”
The heart of the question is a beautiful one. Shouldn’t we just accept the blessings of worldly success with a little more humility and a lot less marketing? Because we had worked through so many of these points of tension in parsing through some of the more complicated ideas of the Bible and faith, we handled the discussion with encouragement and stayed squarely on the fence. They wanted an answer, but an answer may not be what they needed in the moment. They needed to wrestle with it together. So we stayed in the middle, in the beautiful “both / and” of the idea.
As we left and scurried off to catch a flight, the point of tension became the topic of discussion on the way to the airport. It was a classic, “I sure wish I had said this” moment for both of us! We recounted all of the ways we attempt, as human beings, to capture the divine moments. Cathedrals, shrines, symbols, trinkets…you name it. There’s a human need to capture those moments when we experience something transcendent. That’s just a part of our faith experience.
This idea reminded me of the story of Joshua and the Israelites crossing the Jordan in Joshua 3 & 4. After they cross the river, Joshua instructs the people to grab 12 stones to serve as a memorial for what God did that day. The Lord did not strike Joshua or any of the people down for doing this, but rather exalted Joshua. Our Lord seems to revel in the idea of us remembering the work He does. This idea of a ‘stone of remembrance’ is something I remember doing before my first year as a head coach over 20 years ago. Before our field was finished, I grabbed a stone to remember His provision for me to begin a vision He gave me to become a coach and leader. In many ways, I feel the same level of exaltation as I continue to help people see sport as an opportunity to worship our Lord, Jesus Christ to this day. This now makes me wish I had grabbed a stone from Atlanta as a reminder of what Jesus did with us that day!
The stone or the banner doesn’t matter, but the why behind it does. If it’s just hanging from the rafters for the sake of marketing and attracting new students, it’s going to be a dry experience. However, if it serves as an opportunity to tell a story about God’s faithfulness in that season of time, what could be more beautiful? We’re forgetful creatures, and we need those stories to remind us of what the Lord has done previously in hopes that He will again show His favor upon the people we are leading in that moment. Yes, a banner can become an idol, but so can a cross around our neck, the Bible itself, or any other tangible object when they’re not put in the proper perspective.
This weekend I had the opportunity to watch another coach who I have invested in lead their program, standing firm to the teachings of Jesus, and experience success. Those things should, and deserve to be, remembered. If we choose to not remember them, we lose the opportunity to share with future generations about tangible, transcendent experiences where the Lord enters into human experiences. We need them as reminders and as an encouragement for future generations to trust God with every part of who they are…even things like a game. What else do we have but an opportunity to express a heartfelt hallelujah sent to the Lord through a stone or even a banner hanging in a gym or on a fence? This is why the banners fly, and should fly - to remember the One who has and always will seek to provide for us!