By The Rev. Dr. Anne McKee

Dear Friends, 

It’s sports-watching season in our house. Pretty much every night, even if it’s late when I get home, I spend a bit of time watching basketball on TV, mostly the WNBA, and of course, what we call in our house the “MNBA,” as the Knicks and Spurs duke it out in the finals. Our son Doug, on summer break from teaching high school, is home for a month, and besides reading books on the porch, his afternoons and evenings will now be filled with watching the World Cup, so I’m sure I’ll join in that, as well. 

I really know nothing about sports. I’ve never played, though I spent plenty of hours on the soccer sidelines with my kids as they were growing up. I can’t fight with the refs about calls, as I’m not at all clear what constitutes a foul in most cases. I watch because it’s something our family does together, and to admire the beautiful bodies doing things that defy limits of gravity, and to watch a team working toward something that, mostly, brings people together rather than dividing them. And, I’ll admit, I watch because I don’t generally get hooked on a game. If I realize it’s bedtime, unlike with a movie that I’d feel committed to, I have no trouble leaving the room. That’s what I did last night, when the Spurs were way ahead, only to have a surprise when I checked the score in the morning.

This is all probably irrelevant to our shared life at FCPC, though of course I can make a connection. A lot of what we do and talk about at church is very serious – our faithfulness to Christ, our commitment to shining his light in the world, our showing up in concrete ways both for one another and for our neighbors in need, the stewardship of our building and money. All super-important. This week in worship we will focus on a passage in Matthew 9 and 10, when Jesus commissioned his disciples to go out and do the works he was doing. But some of our church life is simply fun – the events planned after worship in July are there to build community, to enjoy each other, to welcome new friends and neighbors into the circle. Those relaxing interactions aren’t a waste of time at all; they strengthen the connections among us, so we’ll have the relationships that carry us through the hard conversations, so we’ll love this place enough to keep giving to it, and so it will feel like home.

I hope you’ll make a point to be present at FCPC in all ways – in worship especially, in fellowship, and in service. You all are a good team, and a pleasure to watch.