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I recently caught a short video on the internet called, “Golf Rules for the Rest of Us.” It starts with a particularly bad golf shot (now you can see how it caught my attention). Immediately following the shot a gentleman explains that normally that would cost a stroke, but in the new rules for golf you get one mulligan for every dollar you spent on the round. And I thought, now they are talking.
The video went on to inform us of some other new golf rules including when your mulligans run out you may begin to use your “do-overs,” and my personally favorite, when you hit the ball into the sand trap it is very important that you do not ground your club while you throw your ball back into the fairway.
Ironically, the next link on the YouTube page directed me to a video from the First Tee Program. Contrary to the new set of rules, this video addressed why golf in the first place. It emphasized how golf can help teach young people valuable life lessons around honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility, and judgment. Clearly, I thought, they wouldn’t be fans of “Golf Rules for the Rest of Us.” But it got me thinking: It’s time to ask WHY.
Why golf? I know my answer. To hit something as hard as I can and watch it soar. Or to attempt to set a new personal best score. Or because I love the sound of draining a 20 foot putt. (Not that any of those things ever actually happen). But First Tee suggested golf might be good for kids to build character, sportsmanship, and responsibility. I missed that boat personally, but it still sounds good to me.
And, actually, it’s got me asking why of a lot of other things too. Like Why Church? Why Sunday School? Why Youth Group? Why Bible Study? Why Worship? Why?
First Tee knows their why. It’s not to make the next crop of young PGA golfers (let’s face it, most of them aren’t going to play in high school let alone the pros). It’s not to teach kids the importance of keeping your right elbow close and your left arm straight. It’s to form responsible and upright golfers who respect themselves, one another, and the course (God made).
What if we started to treat our Sunday School programs and youth ministries in the same way? And what if we didn’t stop there? What if we stopped asking how we are going to do Sunday School, what curriculum we are going to use, and whether we should do it during church or apart, and instead asked why? Why do faith formation? Why does it matter?
For years we took that answer for granted. “Train a child in the right way, Pastor, and when old, they will not stray. That’s why.” Or “Because God said to recite the words he commands, teach them, bind them, and write them. Because.”
But even though I do believe it may still be that simple, I also know that “Because” and the hope that our kids won’t “stray from our paths” hardly works for parents these days. Not in a world with First Tee. And it’s no wonder when they think about their children’s faith formation and begin to ask why, and all we can offer is ‘because’ or ‘to make the next crop of worship going, offering giving, Christians like us,’ they end up choosing the First Tee Program on Sunday morning. After all, at least there their kid will intentionally learn core values.
Allegedly anyways. But (and I say this knowing I’ll sign my kids up for First Tee—I’m sure it’s a great program) I don’t want my children to think integrity is the difference between a foot wedge and penalty stroke. I want them to know it’s about letting your yes be yes and your no be no like Jesus said in Matthew. I don’t want them to think that the reason you replace your divot is out of courtesy for other golfers. I want to them to respect creation because God made it and gave it to us to care for. And I certainly don’t want them to have confidence because of how straight or far they hit a silly little ball, but because they know that they are wonderfully and beautifully made. I don’t want it to fall on a golf pro to teach my children values.
Here’s the deal. Asking why is actually easy for the church. We already have the answer. We already have the ‘so that.’ When we baptize children at Hope, it’s so that the young person there learns to trust God, learns to live
a life that proclaims God’s love in their words and deeds, learns to care for others and the world God made, and learns to work for justice and peace. That’s Why. Not ‘because.’ Not to ‘carbon copy ourselves.’
People are asking why? They ask it of everything these days. And when they get to us, when the get to Why Church? Hopefully we have a better answer than how it fits into their schedule, or because of our fancy building or worship style, or because we have ‘activities for youth.’ But instead get to the real WHY we do this faith and church thing in the first place.
To trust God.
To know Jesus.
To proclaim love.
& To care others.
Why? Because we were teaching ‘core values’ before every organization under the sun jumped on board. We just forget sometimes. But we will ask, why?
