When our daughter began playing netball, I watched on and felt I could offer something as a coach – I was probably itching to get in and have a go. I had played basketball for a few years and it all looked to have similarities. I thought I could do it.
So, the next season I put my name forward and it was gratefully accepted. The first season or two wasn’t too complicated, although I had to quickly come to grips with the particular rules and help the girls understand them. We focussed on some basic skills such as catching, passing and where they could move on the court. There was also basic shooting and defending skills. It was fun, but as the years moved on, the level of skills and the understanding of the game required lifted significantly. I was trying to teach them skills and concepts that I understood theoretically but hadn’t actually tried out. My limitations were basketball and I still saw through the lens of basketball. I was teaching the girls from theory, from watching others and reading some coaching manuals. It was very much a case of do as I say, not what I do. I hadn’t been on the court or played this game; I couldn’t really identify with how the game flowed or what was actually required of the various positions, so different from basketball, I discovered. Do as I say; not what I do!
An opportunity arose to play in a mixed competition through the club and I jumped at it. Suddenly, I was on the court trying to put into practice the things I had grasped theoretically and discovered it was not all that easy. I found it hard to stay on side and roam the court as I did in basketball. Stopping on the spot when I received a pass was a skill I had to learn – I was used dribbling (bouncing) the ball and running. There was much more and it was an education. It also helped me coach the girls in a different way – I coached from experience and understanding rather than theory!
As I look back I realise that it is rather different teaching and encouraging out of experience rather than theory. It is quite a different situation being on the court and in the game, as opposed to being on the side-lines, trying to tell the girls what they should do without any real understanding of how it felt and what it meant. It is the same with the children I teach saxophone to at the local primary school. I teach them from the perspective of knowing what it means to play the saxophone and the struggles of learning. Often I have to remind myself of how I struggled when I first began and how hard it was to learn various skills of playing, including reading music!
Living and teaching out of the experience of ‘doing’ rather than from theory is very different reality and brings a deeper sense of understanding and wisdom. It is the difference between opinion and knowing through experience. Too often I have found myself offering opinions or advice from theory – I have learned some truths and theory about a subject and am able to speak into a situation – but it isn’t the same as knowing through life and experience. Sometimes (often?) it shows.
I remember being a hospital chaplain at one point and visiting the family of a dying man. Whilst his wife fed him lunch, I spoke with his daughter who was older than me and probably thought I was a raw young chaplain who really didn’t know much. At one point, having asked how they were going and listening to her response that felt somewhat distant, I commented innocently that it is really hard. In that moment I was really remembering my own experience of mum’s death. She asked what I meant and I briefly explained and before I ended she looked up and exclaimed, ‘You know, don’t you? You know!’ At first I wasn’t sure what ‘I knew’ but then I realised she recognised that I wasn’t talking theory or well-meaning hot air. I had walked that path and I was speaking and acting out of experiential understanding. I had engaged in the journey and understood how hard it was.
This week’s Gospel Reading comes to us from Matthew 23:1-12. It comes as the tension around Jesus heats up. In the last days of his life he has been tested and opposed by religious leaders seeking to take him down. At every point they seek to tie him up and trap him so that public opinion and legal recourse will be aligned against him. Having sidestepped their traps and turned rhetoric against them, Jesus turns to the crowds with strong words of warning: Beware the hypocrites!! He affirms that the religious leaders are knowledgeable. They know what is right in the laws of God. They have studied, debated and wrestled with the law and the prophetic writings of Jewish faith. Listen and learn. BUT, says Jesus, do not do what they do because their words and actions fail to align – they are all tip and no iceberg; all talk and no walk!
The religious leaders know the right things, at least in a theoretical way, but they cannot and will not live out the implications and reality of what God is on about. They will not follow God’s way from theory into action. They will not embrace the transformative way of God in the world. They won’t live out a faith that is real and engaged – it is merely faith as giving ascent to some truth. There is no life-engaging belief in this God who will make all things new and bring hope, life and joy. It’s a bit like me telling the girls how to play netball before I ever strode onto a court! I had a whole bunch of ideas, opinions and even facts about what to do but never actually did it.
Many people are spectators in the game of life, with opinions divorced from reality or knowledge not grounded in praxis. This applies as much to the church as anywhere. Many of us have the theory and theological belief systems but that belief is more about giving ascent to a truth. Not everyone practices and applies the truth they claim to believe. Belief is removed from practice and trust in the Living God who is mysterious and wondrous beyond our comprehension. This God calls us into a life of lived belief and trust. It is a life grounded in love and justice that aren’t simply believed with the mind but lived in the real world – enacted by people who claim this belief. Too often we argue over theology or practices in worship, church or life but don’t move to the next step of embracing belief and faith into a life lived.
As we hear this story from Jesus we might realise that as it progresses Jesus will soon find his own life at a crossroads – literally a cross. Jesus puts his life where his mouth and beliefs are. He puts his whole trust in this one God whose love, grace, justice and way he seeks to incarnate in his own life and being. He walks to the cross and embraces the truth he believes in his very being and gives his life for the sake of this reality of God. Jesus demonstrates the profound depth of his words in this passage where people of power and glory are all talk and no walk. He invites his followers to move beyond being passengers and to engage in life lived; to embrace a way of life, a living faith of love and justice rather than a theoretical belief system. Jesus invites us to live the faith, embrace a life of love, justice, hope and peace.
Geoff's Reflections on Life and Spirit 