This is the 4th installment of Faith+Lead’s Faith in Daily Life series in which we tell stories of resilience and deep faith lived out in the world. This time we have a reflection by pastor and mother, Jeni Grangaard.
“Hey buddy, can you hear the church bells? They’re beautiful.”
My son pauses and offers a “Yeah” while he heads for the doors.
Equal streams of people flow in and out. Smiles on their faces. Springs in their steps. Children marching in unison. Cups of coffee in their hands.
The church bells resonate across the interstate, the sculpture garden, and the soccer playing fields. They are beautiful, and we are headed to the ice arena. It’s the shift switch for Sunday morning practice.
Inside, parents are lacing up skates and patting helmets, then looking up from the glass of their phones to the glass of the rink.
Volunteers are teaching young people. They are bending low to be face to face: teaching, strengthening, and connecting.
Young people are growing and developing. Kids who have been doing this their whole lives, and kids who have just begun.
We’ve gathered not because it’s the regular time, but because our collective sports management app has told us that this is the time we could eke out ice time.
This, one asserts, is the State of Hockey.
What church leader hasn’t worried about the youth sports industrial complex? The usurped Sunday mornings. The crowded Wednesdays. Church attendance feels just as scarce as available ice time.
Some Sunday mornings, I find myself there, in the arena, instead of at church. Watching my son, 7, practice hockey.
He started playing when he was 6. He was one of the new-to-hockey kids that others skated around while he fell again and again and again. He had a smile on his face the whole time. He’s still smiling. He loves it. And I love him.
Today he glides through drills. Turning and stopping and skating backwards. His development and growth are undeniable. I can see it clearly with my own eyes.
And yet, the choice to sit in the arena and not in church invites questions. My own professional questions. My own parental questions…
Why the arena and not the cathedral? What about church? How long will he play hockey? How will he be formed in faith? Am I doing the right thing?
In the moment, it feels good to watch my kid grow. And yet the pervasive questions of scarcity come to mind. How do hockey and church work together—or, do they?
On Sundays when I am not in church, I am learning that sports and church can exist within the same arena. Time is scarce and yet it doesn’t have to be a competition, a choice.
Our focus ought to be on how they are alike. And then, how one can support the other.
Both are essential to wellbeing. Physical activity, team/community, volunteerism, and working towards a common goal are gifts that both sports and church offer.
Both help us out of the epidemic of loneliness. We sing, we cheer, we watch something other than our screens with other human beings nearby.
Both offer an opportunity to grow and develop. Hockey is more external. Faith is more internal. There are also physical and emotional limitations that kids have. Kids at 7 aren’t hitting slap shots or skating for hours on end but are learning the basics. Likewise, kids at 7 aren’t delving deep into theology but are learning the stories and the principles of faith through relationship.
Both bring joy to our lives. Nothing can compare with the joy of Jesus. And yet, God continues to call us to be creatures so that he can be our Creator. The point is a life that trusts God. Do we trust that God is present where we gather in our daily lives as well as in our houses of worship?
The church is competing in a much different marketplace than ever before. We can lament and we can adapt. I propose a simple framework for thinking about church and sports:
Celebrate it! At the end of the fall, winter, and spring seasons, have the kids come to church in their jerseys and have a cake.
Bless volunteerism and community commitments.
Go to the games. Coach or volunteer if you can.
Support parents and volunteers as they work with young people.
Empower parents to talk about life while they are watching a community of kids grow together.
Remember that the kitchen table is the best place to share faith.
Podcast sermons, teachings, and meditations can help parents remain tethered to their faith communities.
Keep church open on Sundays, at the same time.
Remember that it can’t be an either/or.
I’ve heard dads talk about faith at the ice arena. What they’re reading. Which church they attend. How they manage both.
From what I hear, the speakers aren’t looking for something different, something better; they are looking for Jesus, for structure, and for guidance on how to live well and live faithfully, especially amidst the chaos of our collective sports calendar apps that tell us where to be, and when.
