Does God Play Sports?
There is a unifying and connecting spirit found in feelings of wonder and awe
That have been part of the human experience since the beginning.
-The Miracle Collectors
Happy June and a mid-year reminder that miracles are best shared with others. As Katie writes about in this month's blog, the NY Knicks miracle season is as much about a collective sense of purpose and community as it is about the unlikeliest of buzzer beating moments. May your summer include the sharing of special moments with friends and loved ones in the warmth of the sun.
Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.
Joan and Katie
I have always had some trepidation in sharing my miracle story – too embarrassing and naïve, and full of potential spiritual overtones. If I didn’t know what to think for many years, how could someone else have a clue? But over the years as many kind souls have told me their odd tales, a kinship arose and it allowed me to think differently. “Ah, you too? You get it. Maybe it is all miraculous.” There is something defining in that kinship, “a unifying and connecting spirit found in feelings of wonder and awe…” This feeling can magnify globally when shared with millions as happened with the Miracle on the Hudson (the plane that landed on the Hudson River in January, 2009), or the Miracle on Ice (The US hockey team beating the Russians at the 1980 Olympics).
It happened here in NYC a few nights ago, when the Knicks came back from a 29-point deficit to win on a miraculous tip-in as the clock hit 1 second, the largest come-back in finals history. Pandemonium ensued all over the city as crowds of thousands at watch parties in Central Park, on the streets of the West Village, in bars and pizzerias and laundromats all went crazy at the same time. You could imagine the buildings of Manhattan all lit up in team colors, shaking. Some who had gone to sleep when the outcome looked grim were awakened by the collective cheers from bars down the street. An experience that connected us all together, regardless of political leanings, color, religion, or generation, in peaceful, joyful, exuberance, left stupefied by the impossible.
Even the Salesian nuns, huge fans of the San Antonio Spurs, must have been dumbfounded by the outcome, disappointed though they were. Always seen courtside at their home games, they pray for the players, a home court advantage you might say. Except they obviously understand that God doesn’t play sports (although the nuns do – they are more than avid fans as many are past players themselves), because they’re “…just praying that everybody can play good honest basketball out there…Society is seeing that, you know what? Faith and sports can go hand in hand.”
It might seem like a trivial example of what everyone is calling a miracle. It isn’t life or death, or a sign that all would be well, or a coincidence that changed the stars. The miracle to me is the sense of peace in unity, the connection to each other, the spotlight on our commonalities, not to mention the shared wonder and joy.
As I write this, I have no idea who will ultimately win the NBA finals*, but as the nuns expressed, and gave us an example of the way to pray, may the best team win. Amen to that.
*Way to go Knicks!
Miracle Moment Challenge: Awe-Some
Reflect back to your most recent experience of wonder. What could you do do to capture that feeling more frequently? How do wisdom and wonder intersect?