More fun to Watch

What was it that Mark Twain said, something about his death being
prematurely reported? I would suggest that the same thing could be
said about baseball, and the Episcopal Church, for that matter.
Many said that baseball was doomed in the midst of the controversy
over the use of steroids. Fans would be totally turned off, players
would not know how to train without drugs; that main stay of the
sport, personal best records would be suspect. Without the physical giants like
Sammy Sosa, Mark MacGuire, and Barry Bonds the game just wouldn't be
exciting anymore.
Well guess what. They were wrong. Baseball has come back, maybe
stronger than it's been for a long time. Those lumbering behemoths
gave way to a new breed of ball players. Our new heroes are fast, and
scrappy, like Dustin Pedroia and Nyjer Morgan. They are becoming the
most exciting players to watch. We're realizing it's much more
fun to watch a bold runner score from first on a long out to
right field than it is to watch a slugger trot the bases with his
hands in the air after a home run.
Many said the Episcopal Church was gasping it's last breaths
too, especially after the affirmation of the election of the bishop of
New Hampshire at General Convention in 2003. And the Church has
gotten smaller to, or as I like to think of it, leaner and quicker.
It's not that the Church without the dioceses and congregations who
left is any better, rather it's that since they left those of us still
here have become more focused, more able to spend energy on something
other than sexual politics.
Just as I believe the changes in major league baseball will
reinvigorate the game, I believe the Church's changes will have a
similar outcome. Of course it takes effective training, courageous
play and taking some risks to produce successful baseball, and Church.
It's hopeful, and a lot of fun, to think that we're well on our way,
in both.


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