The Sandlot: A collection of Sermons and other writings

A “sandlot” refers to the informal, less organized sports that take place on vacant inner-city house lots across America. Sandlots are used primarily by those who play for love and pleasure rather than pay or job security. Generally speaking, they are populated by those who do not mind dirt, spit, sweat, bloody and bruised elbows, and those willing to sacrifice their ego for the love of the game. Black eyes are not common, but neither are they absent in the heat of a triple play or a bases-loaded infield home run. They are the arenas where orthodoxy (Studying the rules) takes a back seat to orthopraxy (playing the game).

I have found a “sandlot mentality” invaluable in ministry. It is a perspective beginning with the reality of life on the streets, highways, and byways of day-to-day living. Unfortunately, I feel that many pastors and church officials hide from this reality behind pulpits and church board rooms, never really being touched by the pain and difficulties of those who are left to fend for themselves, those who do not fit into “our” demographic, making them less appealing to the “outreach team.”

I would propose that these were Jesus’ congregation. Street dwellers, the hungry, the poor, the ugly, the dirty, the smelly, those who were not welcome among the padded pews and leather-bound hymnals of the affluent synagogues, those who work hard every day to get ahead and never seem to, in short, “the forgotten” are found populating the crowds in the gospels. When some pastors speak of “my congregation,” it is often to the exclusion of “the least of these.”

I have long felt that most pastors would be well served by working the graveyard shift of the local inner city 7-Eleven or Cumberland Farms convenience store. I think you will find that seeking out this flock is fulfilling, bringing with it a feeling of spiritual purity because it is real, filled with signs, miracles, and wonders that transform both the minister and ministered. At a minimum, you may find yourself with powerful or funny stories for your Sunday sermons; at a maximum, you may change a life forever.

It is not that more affluent congregations are absent genuine ministry, spiritual purity, signs, miracles, and wonders; on the contrary, but every church has an inner dialog, a societal inclination, a gravitational pull drawing us closer toward the center and away from the edges where the fireworks happen. Church, with all of its social dynamics, must not become an end in itself, but rather a means to a greater, deeper inclusivity, deeper diversity, searching out the margins for “both bad and good” of Matt 22:10”. It is in this giving that we receive our greatest gifts. Like my mom used to say, “Stephen, get out of the house and play with the other children!”

I invite you to play a game with us, get dirty with us, and get bruised with us. You may find a ministry closer to what we see in the gospels and on the sandlots of life. So, leave your clean uniform in the closet and come meet us on “The Sandlot.”