It’s been a great week in Kansas City. The Royals won their first World Series in THIRTY YEARS and the city had a peaceful celebration with 800,000 fans hailing from both Kansas and Missouri. It was AMAZING!!

I really wanted to be at the parade yelling at the top of my lungs and high fiving complete strangers, but I had to settle for watching it on tv. As I watched the celebration unfold I recalled my undergraduate Sociology of Sports class and my professor’s statement that sports are only one element away from being a religion. The only necessary element of religion that sports lack is a holy book. Maybe this is why my mind draws so many parallels between sports, Christianity and the Church.

What I witnessed on Tuesday in Kansas City reminded me of sports’ uncanny ability to unite a group of people and produce seemingly instantaneous camaraderie. 800,000 people rallied around one common goal – winning the World Series. There was no designated area based on who your favorite player was. No one saying Hosmer fans to the right…Perez fans to the left.

No, in this moment all that mattered was that everyone loved the Royals.

What if…

the Church was like that?

What if…

what really mattered was not if you like Luther, Wesley or Calvin but that you love God?

What if…

we acted like we truly believed Jesus wanted us to be one as he and the father are one?

Could we unite 800,000 people in celebration?

Maybe the Church will never be the Royals…but maybe we could be.