I did music all through middle school and high school, just a second I’m going to brag on myself and tell you that I was very good at it. I was a leader in my show choir and performed well in a group as well as on my own. I was very comfortable in music and that helped me to excel at it. I’m telling you all of this not because I want you to think I’m great or for my own benefit like some sort of affirmation chant I’m telling you this for context. You see tonight I didn’t find myself on a stage or behind a mic or standing as a face in the choir, tonight I was in the middle of a basketball court with people running all around me shooting baskets and grabbing rebounds; crying. If this seems a little pathetic to you it’s because it is. At 20 years old, I have a lot bigger things to cry about than being bad at basketball like how the heck im going pay for school. Never the less my own frustration brought me to tears and I was forced to do something no one really wants to do; I was forced to admit that I am bad at something no no not just bad, Literally Terrible. A huge part of going to my tiny Baptist school is intermural sports. It’s a facet of social life here and helps you get involved, meet others and at the very least forces you to get a little bit of cardio in. When flag football season came along I made sure to find myself on a team! I wasn’t half bad at flag football and I really loved being on a team! I’m a big fan of encouraging others (lol see what I did there) So naturally when I was asked to be on a basketball team I jumped on the idea! I had never played a game of basketball in my life, I hadn’t even played that game where you shot the ball and spell the animals name and if you spell It your out. my first time touching a basketball for anything other than moving it over was the first game of the season,I’m not even kidding. I figured it couldn’t be that hard and everyone on my team played in high school so I could just get some tips from them and them after a few games I would be giving Kobe himself a run for his money…I was so wrong. Basketball is hard ya’ll! The running back and forth and passing and dribbling and screens! That mess is a lot to chew on and unfortunately its all happening at once. It took me about 7 minuets into my first game before I realized that I am desperately in over my head but it took me 4 games to cry about it (I’m a little bit proud I lasted that long).

Now I don’t know if it’s the ministry major in me or that getting some kind of lesson out of it makes my own lack of skills a lot easier to swallow but tonight as I was walking home from the gym I asked myself “Dia what can we learn from sucking at basketball?” and this is the answer I came up with. Being overwhelmed on a basketball court full of people who played in high school is one of the few things that gives me a glimpse into the anxious mind of a nonbeliever as they walk into a church for the first time. A building full of people who all use the same weird words you’ve never heard, who all seem to fluidly know what’s happening and when it’s going to happen and honestly appear to have no desire to slow down for a second and let you catch up. I’m not daft to think that my own lack of basketball skills and someone else’s lack of faith exist at all on the same plane but I would argue that we could feel a lot of the same things. I was kind of excited and nervous for my first game! I was only going because someone invited me and honestly I wasn’t sure I was wearing the right thing but I mustered up all the courage I had and walked into the gym to try my best because that’s all that can be expected of me. My first game wasn’t awful but I was scared and confused. Even with encouragement from my team I knew I didn’t want to go back again for the next game because I would have to stretch myself again and I didn’t want to, I knew that if I told my team I didn’t want to play anymore because I was uncomfortable they would understand and love me just the same but something inside me told me I needed to go back so I went through the same routine of getting ready, scrapping together all the bravery I had and forcing myself into this strange game where people say weird words like rebound and they have all these weird rules like you can’t stand in this box on the floor for more than a few seconds or they will blow a whistle at you!!!!! (rude) All of this piled together over time was enough to drive me to tears so just imagen what it must feel like to walk into a church full of people and feel the exact same thing. To go into a worship service and watch the people around you flip around in a book you’ve never read, at some point they all stand up and sing words to songs you’ve never heard of, some people are rising their hands and closing their eyes maybe even crying and Then this guy stands at the front and teaches from this required reading everyone appears to have read but you asks you to close your eyes and pray whatever that is. All of this together would be more than enough to make me never want to come back again because honestly I don’t even like being bad at basketball and I don’t think anyone would argue with me when I say being uncomfortable in a social situation like church is much worse.

I can’t count the amount of people my age that I’ve talked to who have a bad taste in their mouth for religion not because of something in scripture or an awful encounter they had with God but because church makes them uncomfortable. They walk into the exact place that is supposed to be full of people called to love them and they feel alienated and judged, so much so that they never want to come back. So, what are we going to do about it? Tonight, when faced with my tears my teammates grabbed ahold of me gave me big hugs. They told me they didn’t want me on the team to play basketball they want me on my team for my heart. Tears were whipped away encouragement was given and that in and of itself was enough for me to lace up my shoes and try again next week. What if the church stated whipping tears? What if we all stopped going with the flow and started opening our eyes to people that aren’t catching on because once upon a time we were in the same boat. at the end of the day we could all use someone in our lives to explain modern worship music to us because that stuff is crazy.

I’ll probably never be good at basketball but if it weren’t for my time running back and forth on the court like a mad woman I would be missing out on some important lessons and the opportunity to be loved on by some amazing women. Let’s give nonbelievers the same chance to be loved on in a much more important context. Let’s stop standing in the church and start BEING the church.