The Real Reason We Root!

All it takes is to walk into a room where a ballgame is playing on TV, and in mere minutes I will be rooting for one of the teams. Perhaps I am more competitive than some, but I've a feeling most men and a good number of women enjoy taking a side and vicariously competing on the court, or field of play.

So how is it we come to pull for a team? Most of the time, for me at least, it boils down to such matters as rooting for whoever is losing, b/c I like to pull for the underdog. Or, if I don't have a clue about either team, perhaps my instantaneous loyalty is due to whichever team is closer to my part of the country, or whether they are from the East or West. (usually pull for the Western team) Sometimes our rooting is due to a distant relative who may have gone to one of the schools competing, whether or not they graduated or not. At the lowest level, rooting may depend on which team has the coolest looking uniform.

While our team of choice in sports makes little difference, let me use this idea as a backdrop for how some folks support (or not) their church. It is my feeling that there should be a deep loyalty to ones place of worship. Since every church has areas of strength and areas of weakness, good points and bad points, it amazing how folks change loyalty like picking an unknown team playing on the TV in your living room.

Real loyalty pulls for a church because of important things like it being the right thing to do, like propagating a heritage for their children, like having pride in a place that is so valuable to their community and the list goes on. However, humans often are short sighted. Rooting for or against their church, their leadership can be as fickle as the color of trim on the pew. Some wind up being enemies of their own church b/c they've become fixated on small, insignificant things. I have heard folks say, "Well, I'm gonna go to another church 'cause I just like their music." I want to say...what about your children having stability and learning faithfulness. What about teaching your kids that it's fine to just walk out and leave the church in a lurch so you can get your 'flavor' of music, preaching, big screen event, etc.

I just want to put in the hearts of people the need to root for your home team. Do it for all the right reasons. When we are all rooting for the right reasons, it will do a lot for the church. It's more than the trappings. Root from the heart!