Batters and Theology at Turner Field

They spoke against God saying, “Can God spread a table in the desert? When he struck the rock, water gushed out and streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us food? Can he supply meat for his people?” (Psalm 78:19-20)

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life . . . “(Luke 12:22).

This past Friday Marnie and I went to our first Braves game of the season. I’m indebted to my friend Brent for a number of blog-worthy ideas from that game. His insights and ideas started me thinking, and here’s what stood out in my mind:

Whenever a Braves batter comes to the plate, there is usually a snippet of music played – something like a fanfare for the athlete. I don’t know if each Braves player gets to select his own fanfare or if something is just played at random. Regardless, there were two players in particular whose music got my attention, maybe because they were next to each other in the line-up.

One player was Julio Franco. As he came to the plate the music being blasted into Turner Field was an old Twila Paris song, “God Is In Control.” The lyrics assert that God is in control and because of that “we believe that his children will not be forsaken.” The bold declaration continues. “There is no power above or beside him we know (oh-oh-oh) God is in control.” So-so music; good theology, especially for Turner Field.

The next batter was Andruw Jones. The air was then filled with a hip-hop style tune with a pounding rhythm and a repetitive lyric. Over and over the song said “Get out da way, get out da way, get out da way.” This song got the crowd ramped up. I actually enjoyed it – what little I heard of it. But the difference between the two songs was significant.

One song exalts God, the other exalts self. One assumes a posture of humility, the other assumes a posture of pride. Here, as the batters came to the plate, was the fundamental question of human life and how it is lived. One way gladly acknowledges the sovereign presence of God in the world. The other way seeks to be acknowledged and feared. C.S. Lewis rightly observed that pride is a deadly sin because it looks down on everything and everyone around it, and when you’re looking down you can’t see what’s above you.

Psalm 78 narrates the experience of God’s people in being delivered from slavery in Egypt. The drama in this Psalm is their repeated failure to remember or believe that God is in control. Even after the plagues, even after receiving water from the rock, even with a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, they keep forgetting. They panic. Sure, God came through back there, back then, but what about now? He gave us water from the rock, but what about something a little more filling? Can he spread a table in the wilderness?

And God, in his patience, answered them over and over. He gave them food. He spread a table for them. These gifts didn’t exempt God’s people from God’s discipline – but his discipline and his gifts were evidence of a single truth: God is in control. God will provide.

What often looks like pride in us is actually born out of our anxieties. We’re not sure God is control. More honestly, we say God is in control until God does something we don’t like or don’t understand. Then we say “get out da way” and we busily set about the task of making things right, taking care of the situation.

Knowing that God can and will means living with both confidence and humility, holding the two together. Those who say “God is in control” can’t be passive. Those who say “get out da way” can’t be arrogant. We’re involved, but not in charge. Jesus used the example of the farmer who works hard to sow seed, and then works hard to harvest the crop, but who doesn’t really make anything grow. The seed grows by itself in the dark of the earth whether the farmer sleeps or works (see Mark 4:26-29).

Both Franco and Jones swung their bats hard. To any observer, there was no notable difference in what they did – but maybe those songs offered a glimpse into the difference between how they did it.

So how’s your swing?