Baseball and Christian Unity

            One of my main loves in life is baseball, specifically the Houston Astros. One of our star sluggers for over 10 years was Lance Berkman who played his entire career with Houston until he had a bad season last year and was traded away. So, this season, after Houston snubbed him again, he signed with their archrival: the St. Louis Cardinals. He has something to prove this year and has had one of the best season of his career—so far—being among the top 3 players in all offensive categories. This past week, he made his first return to Houston and had an incredible few games. As I was watching the video from his best game where he hit two homeruns, I realized something: the crowd was screaming for him! Now, baseball fans are usually pretty classy folks and will often applaud an opposing team for making a good play. But this was different. They were standing and cheering and screaming as if he were still an Astro, but he was the “enemy”! As I thought about this, it occurred to me: his entire career spent as an Astro made up for the fact that he was now wearing the opposing uniform—in their minds, it did not matter what uniform he was wearing, he was still an Astro!

            I could not help but immediately contrast this with the church. So often we approach issues in the church as trying to “win”. Who will serve on the church committee, was the preacher really correct today, and what color should the new carpet be? I have seen people leave churches because the pastor accidentally said something that offended them, or they didn’t get their way with something. We are all Christians and should have unity together like the world has never seen! Ephesians 2:11-21 is all about this! The church is to overcome every difference in the world, and serve as one for the advancement of the Gospel. Last night, twenty thousand fans cheered and screamed as Berkman defeated their team, with absolutely no prompting or leadership from anyone, but we often cannot get two hundred members of a church to overcome their desire to win in order to support Christ. I would encourage you to pray and think about how you can participate in the unity of Christ and overcome your differences with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.