Fatal Omission
By Ben Patterson
January 1, 1995
Twelve years ago, when Ben Patterson wrote this article from the thick of pastoral work, he struck a chord with our readers, who ranked it as one of LEADERSHIP'S best. Now that his ministry has shifted to the rarefied atmosphere of a college campus, we wondered whether Ben would still be as passionate about prayer. His answer, in a word, was yes--only more so. "I feel more deeply about prayer than I ever have," he says. "I've become increasingly jaded about programs and institutional exertions. The last decade has only served to convince me more than ever: prayer must be central to what we do."
Great baseball catcher Yogi Berra played a game in which the score was tied with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. The batter from the opposing team stepped into the batting box and made the sign of the cross on home plate with his bat. Berra was a Catholic, too, but he wiped off the plate with his glove and said to the pious batter, "Why don't we let God just watch this game?"
That is good theology when applied to the outcome of a baseball game. It is a terrible theology when applied to the way we live our lives and carry out the work of the church. Worse than that, it is fatal.
But too often that is precisely the outlook we bring to our vocation as Christian elders, deacons, and pastors. God is in attendance at the game, but only as our honored spectator. Our prayers are merely ceremonial functions: tips of the hat, verbal recognition over the loudspeaker between innings, or requests to throw out the game ball. He even may have the best seat in the stadium, but he rarely, if ever, gets on the playing field.
Am I overstating things a bit? Not if I am to believe half of what I hear from my colleagues about the weight and frequency ...
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