The Winter Olympics, basketball, Paul and teamwork

There are very few Mexicans competing in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Well, that is what I assume from the complete lack of coverage here. At least we are being spared the scandals, tears and fashion disasters that usually accompany such an event!

So with no curling to enjoy when I need a brain break, my remote has led me to watch a bit of basketball. Here in Mexico, we get both kinds of basketball: NBA (professional, LA Lakers, Boston Celtics, absurd amounts of money, etc.) and college (university, 18-21-year-olds—many of whom will in a few years be making absurd amounts of money). Now I’m the sort of guy who will watch just about any kind of sport. I’ve also played a bit of basketball in my time, so it’s been interesting to me to observe the difference between NBA and college. Strangely, reflecting on that has helped me understand 1 Corinthians 3.

NBA teams are generally dominated by one individual. All the players are amazing athletes, but there is usually one who stands above the rest (often literally!) For example, the LA Lakers have Kobe Bryant. He’s a legend. He can shoot from anywhere, get around even the best defender and is a furious competitor. If you’re a generation behind, Kobe Bryant is like Michael Jordan. My guess is that without Kobe Bryant, the Lakers would be has-beens. So when it comes to team play, the tactic basically is give the ball to Kobe and everyone else get out of the way. I guess there’s a little more to it than that, but not much.

But in college basketball, the playing field is more even. Teams are much less dominated by one individual, and so have to play much more as a team. Team tactics are much more about team play and working together, rather than enabling an individual to dominate.

Now to Paul. In 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, Paul uses the well-known planter/waterer/grower metaphor to argue for why we shouldn’t be dividing up to follow our favourite leader—whether he be Paul or Apollos. Instead, we have different jobs to do, and in the end, it is God who gives the growth. We are not to be proud individualists, but God’s fellow workers.

So should ministry be like an NBA team or a college team? Well, I guess there is always the danger of pushing an analogy too far, but when I watch basketball, it seems to me that college games, not NBA, are much more like ministry, because in ministry, we need to play like a team.

We don’t aim to structure things to grandstand or dominate or get everyone to ‘look at me’. Instead, we serve as fellow workers with fellow workers, under God, for the sake of the growth he gives. When people come to see what we are doing, we don’t want them going away, saying our name and marvelling at our personal skills; we want them to marvel at God and the way his people work together to serve him and others.