lent and basketball
/To hear Brandi read the essay instead, click here: https://youtu.be/m2QeBJ62oZs
It is the third week of Lent, and the first week of the NCAA Basketball tournament. It might seem random to slide these two facts into one sentence, but I’m just tryin’ to keep it real out here in American Christendom. We feel the ache of sacrifice during Lent, and we are giddy with the indulgence of wall-to-wall athletic awesome coming our way. Can I get a witness?
This week’s readings and scriptures speak to another combination that may seem strange to some: Lament and Hope. If you have suffered much then you know these two actions are inextricably linked. If you have not, you might think that hope is the fruit of faith, while lament is unfaithful whining. Anyone familiar with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or of Miriam, Rahab and Mary, knows that hope for God’s presence and provision is baked into knowing God. Hope abounds, and the Gospel work of Jesus fulfills the scriptures and the Jewish people’s longing for rescue. They—like us—begged for God’s unending mercy to manifest itself through God’s justice and transformation. Hope, for the Christ follower, is obvious.
Not so much with lament. I was carried, pushed and led into the church every time the doors opened for my entire childhood. Since then I have learned to root into church communities by gathering with God’s people regularly. It was not until I found welcome in Black churches that I learned of lament as a gift of God. We are all biased, and our theologies and faith-talking reflect those biases. Sitting under Black preachers and leaders taught me of the belonging God offers through lament. The Jewish people knew much of grief, of hope deferred, of senseless and communal pain. When I faced my own soul-crushing grief, the invitation to grieve and lament welcomed me into intimacy with others who hurt, and taught me another way to access hope.
Our life with God is not linear. Many of us don’t come to faith, treasure the promises of God, and then find easy hope for all our days. Some of us abide in Christ and then wonder why God forsakes us, all in the same day. Lament allows us to honestly name the hurt we have done and the hurt done to us. It allows us to name the ways we hope for God and to name the ways we feel abandoned by God. As we tell the truth and cry out in pain, we sometimes find hope. Faith is not linear, but cyclical, coming and going, in hope and lament, as we are gathered by our Maker and carried along in this life.
This week as you think about hope and lament, I pray you will find the courage to name all the things that run through you when you hurt. God created your whole self and God certainly welcomes your whole self. This brings me back to basketball.
My longest, deepest friend is married to a college basketball coach. Their team just made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. As I celebrate their incredible accomplishment, I think of all the pain and work it took to get the team to the Dance. The coach is not just a coach to his players, but cares for them as if their whole lives matter deeply to him. He does not treat them as machines who live and die by basketball, but makes it clear that every part of them can show up every time they interact. These players we idolize are college kids figuring out how to be whole people in the world. In a very tangible way, he honors their humanity, and welcomes them to name and bring the hard and the good that they face. Because he has called every part of them significant, his players have transformed, together, into hopeful young men who belong together (and played an incredible season of basketball).
Basketball is just basketball, but there is some divine truth floating in this story. Transformation does not come when we train ourselves to deny or ignore the hard in our lives. God does not reward the stoic with more hope, but promises to move toward those who hurt, every single time. Your lament honors your story, and God responds as if it is costly praise. Explore your lament, and know all the parts of you matter deeply to God.
Week Three: Lament and Hope, together
“To only have a theology of celebration at the cost of the theology of suffering is incomplete. The intersection of the two threads provides the opportunity to engage in the fullness of the gospel message. Lament and praise must go hand in hand.” -Soong Chan Rah
“Peacemaking cannot be separated from truth telling.” –Esau McCaulley
“Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life.” –Henri Nouwen
3/16 Job 42:1-3
3/17 Isaiah 40:21-31
3/18 Ps 142
3/19 Hosea 5:15-6:3
3/20 Luke 18:35-43
3/21 Ps 143:5-10
3/22 Ps 25:4-18; 19:7-14
