Community
Image: Making New, Avery Peters
We could feel the anticipation in the streets as we watched the throngs of people entering the stadium in Orlando, making it hard for us to drive into the parking garage. There were cops directing us across the road to get into the stadium. Everyone was rushing across, not wanting to miss the game. We arrived just after they began the first announcements. The lights were dimmed and there were flashing spotlights on the players to get the energy going.
The energy at the basketball game was contagious. My kids had never seen a college game before, so it was especially fun to watch through their eyes. My son and daughter, avid basketball players since they began playing in a league this year, were amazed at the skill of the players. The cheerleading team was also inspiring and I was amazed at the strength it took the male cheerleaders to hold up the females with one arm. The females balanced with smiles on their faces. They were encouraging us to cheer, but I was so transfixed by their moves and watching how they communicated with each other and casually took breaks between the output of extreme effort.
Video: Avery Peters
Anytime there was a break there was live entertainment, all encouraging us to engage. There is something distinguished about a brass band. They all had their own seats in the stands and on cue they would all stand together and play the intermission songs. My daughter still hums the songs sometimes. The rallying call. The music instilled a sense of pride.
They began halftime with smoke machines and a light show that ended with a call for everyone to turn on their phone flashlights and raise them up and down. “Lights up, lights down…”
My favourite part of the game besides the excitement and sportsmanship of the basketball game itself was the cheerleaders’ dance at the half time. The women were all standing there in their square formation, perfectly spaced out. But before they started the song, they said they needed to introduce their special guests. Then they each called their dads and they came running out in their own dancing outfits to their daughters’ sides. They had some pretty hilarious moves and you could tell they were dedicated to their daughters. Everyone felt included and everyone was having fun.
As the game was going on there were people watching behind me that were so into calling out after what was happening that I felt a shower of spit sprinkle over me multiple times. The emotion was intense. I could feel everyone really wanted to be there and they all had a role. Even if it was to call out with discontent “Ref-you-suck, ref-you-suck.” There was one particular player that it felt like everyone was on a personal basis with. He was one of the star players making many of the shots and working hard at defence. Near the end of the game, this star player had maxed out on fouls and was out for the last bit of the game. Everyone shouted “Bye, Tyler!”
In every break or time-out there were activities happening on the court. There were dinner roll eating contests, pushup contests, and a make a salad contest. At the halftime they also showcased all those with high GPAs and gave them awards.
This community coming around a basketball game was refreshing. I felt honoured to be a part of it and to witness the passion and excitement and be swept up in it for an evening. Even our friends who joined us, who would not normally go to a basketball game, enjoyed it as well. You know there is something going on that is good. You know what you’re there for. To watch the players and cheer for your team that was united in their purpose.
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Image: Together, Avery Peters
This kind of community and connection happens in all sorts of collaborations. Recently I listened to an interview with the artist, Lauren Daigle. Zane Lowe was interviewing her on her recently released self-titled album. She writes much of her own music, but was describing how she wrote most of her songs on this album with others. She starts with an idea and then, depending who she’s working with, they try out the song and experiment with different lyrics, harmonies, and instrumentals. She described how when she listens to those in her band, she changes the texture of her voice.
One of her most poignant comments was that in the process of working with others, she discovered more layers of herself as she described how “I knew all this was inside of me and I hadn’t heard it outside of me before.” This was the moment a depth of herself was brought out to meet the energy of her collaborators in writing the song, “New.” In response to this observation, the interviewer, Lowe, commented that “We get so attached to who we’ve been that we forget who to become.” The element of change and seeing others is a huge part of community. We get so focused on ourselves that we miss the potential to rise up and meet others where they are. How can we truly see others when we are so focussed on ourselves? Eugene Peterson describes this well in his book, Run with the Horses:
But how much better it is if we take the time to get the drift of things, to find out where we fit. The story into which life fits is already well on its way when we walk into the room. It is an exciting, brilliant, multivoiced conversation…It is not long before we are regular participants in the conversation in which, as it unfolds, we get to know ourselves even as we are known. (p. 38)
As a community it is so important to rally around a cause and to have a unified purpose, just as all the players on the basketball team work together. There are so many people besides the team that have important roles in making the game night a success. There are the organizers, announcers, the cheerleaders, the band members, even the viewers who buy tickets to watch. Everyone has an important role and it’s exciting to see it all come together with the energy of a live game.
The final song in Lauren’s album is called “Valuable.” A big part of finding purpose is understanding our insecurities and moving beyond them. This takes self awareness. After multiple years spent in varying degrees of separation from each other, it can be daunting to be vulnerable and to connect with others on a deeper level, but it is only by engaging in community, as on the court, and through music. I have found this especially in the community of the church, where I have returned to a vision and found my purpose.
As we engage, it slowly becomes clearer how we fit into the big picture. It is a matter of paying attention. Our parents see this when we are born and name us, with a hope for our future and who we will be. It is a moment of awe when a child is born, to think of all that has come before to culminate in the moment of our presentation into the world. And from this moment of birth and throughout our lives we continue changing. Peterson describes how “We are in process of becoming either less or more” (p. 28).
We all have a desire for wholeness and connection whether we pay attention to it or not. This happens on the court, shooting hoops with our friends. When we look into each others’ eyes, ready for the pass. When we gather at the ball field and cheer each other on from the dugout in the pouring rain as we take turns at bat. It happens sitting around the fire with a guitar, singing together, raising our voices up with the sparks. Let us seek wholeness together, because it is very lonely on our own and we all have a valuable role to play in each others’ lives.