Defense or “De-Bench”

Twenty-five seasons as a high school basketball coach at a small Christian school in the Florida Keys often colors my ponderings as I seek to understand my own journey of faith.

Hopefully you will stick around and endure this gristly old coach’s ramblings, even if Sports Center is not part of your daily ritual. And for those who do not recognize the name Dick Vitale, translations will be provided.

Basketball coaches seem fond of inspirational clichés. One of my favorite basketology phrases was “defense or DE-BENCH”. My players, of course, understood and quickly learned what I valued and knew that “P.T.” (translation: playing time ) depended upon both their desire and ability to play defense.

You see, after being pounded by schools in Miami, during my first two seasons, I decided that I no longer wished to be the “cupcake” on everyone’s schedule. (Cupcake: bet you figured that one out on your own.) Not only was most of our competition 2 - 3 times larger in enrollment; our kids’ hands were more comfortable with a fishing pole than a round ball.

We needed a edge. I decided we would play defense: hard-nose, in your face, full body contact, man-to-man defense. Our kids bought into the concept. They did not like being thought of as the “Little Sisters of the Poor” either. (translation: synonym for cupcake)

Not only did we play defense well; during the early 80’s no other team in our division played man, so they were not practicing how to overcome this particular brand of defense. Our edge and a source of pride was defense. Talented squads who averaged 70 plus points a night, struggled to break 50 against us. Sounds great, but we also struggled to score; even against the girl’s team, we couldn’t break 50. Consequently, we felt better about ourselves but still lost more than we won.

Modifying our philosophy resulted in a district championship and over 100 wins to only about 20 losses. We were still tough defensively, but we also learned to put the ball in the hoop. (Not to mention, that we had a few athletes who actually had skills, speed and the ability to dunk. Translation: good stuff)

Now what can all this possibly have to do with a post-charismatic emerging fellow? Let me introduce myself; I began going to church nine-months before I was born. I knew all the stories, memorized large portions of scripture, and understood basic theological terms and concepts; even delivered a few sermons – all before puberty. Scripture was paramount and only Jesus came in a close second. Miracles? Healings? Sure God could, I knew all the omni’s; but he didn’t any more; we had the complete canon. There was no need for anything more.

Holy Spirit, yea, had all the stats; fully God, part of the Trinity, part of what the Pastor said at Baptisms and our quarterly Communion service. Gifts, no, did not know about that, and tongues, oh, no, not that!

I was part of a “defensive” minded team, uh, I mean church. We defended the faith. We were the defenders of the faith. In fact, our defense was offensive. To use another basketball cliché: “Offense wins games, but DEFENSE wins championships.” And we were out to win the greatest championship of all time: souls. I recall that the theological cliché I was brought up on was “rightly dividing the word of truth”. There was none of that emotional, experiential “offense” for us, no sir.

My apologetics were tough and agile as a full court press. (translation: defense on steroids) During the many years of basketball defeats, I took comfort in “moral victories”. Very much like in the church and Bible College I attended. We were suffering for Jesus, as we and we alone, were defenders of the truth. My wide-margined Schofield Bible was thoroughly underlined and cross-referenced to handle any argument, cowering pagans and C&E Christians alike. (translation: C&E: Christmas and Easter only)

Offensive basketball is fun. It’s fun to shoot; even more if the ball goes in the hole. How many kids have you seen in a driveway practicing defensive slides, getting over picks, boxing out and practicing taking a charge? (Translation: Just some basketball stuff you won’t see unless a coach is there to require it.) On the contraire, kids are practicing the “J”, dunking or lowering the hoop so they can. Fancy dribbling and sleek passing is all the rage. It’s hip, cool and simply more fun.

Going down to the river and meeting the Holy Ghost bartender is also fun. But it’s not either/or; how about a little of both/and. During my coaching tenure, we usually met a team or two that was only offensively minded. Their defense was “matador” style. (Their defense consisted of waving at you as they stepped aside, for those who are not ESPN addicts.) They could care less if you scored; they just wanted the ball back. So what if we scored 90; they scored 110. All would go great for the offense-only-team until tournament time, when a balanced team who could score and play defense sent them home to await next season.

The bottom line is this. In basketball both offense and defense are necessary. Some players are better at scoring, ball handling, passing; and others excel at rebounding, shot blocking and cutting off the baseline. There are players who thrive on the defensive aspects, others on scoring, but all must play both ends of the court in sync and harmony with their teammates. Sounds a little like what Paul had to say about the body of Christ in I Corinthians 12.

With honor and respect to God-fearing and God-loving teachers, pastors, and fellow travelers who hold doctrine, scripture and faith alone central, please understand, I value your care, concern and your pouring into my life the love of God’s word. My faith in Jesus Christ came through your ministering. All the same, I’m reminded of a player who won’t shoot, doesn’t want to shoot, really does not even want the ball. As a coach, when I spotted you, we would leave you unguarded, sort of watch you with one eye, and double down on the star. We upset many better squads employing this technique. Perhaps that is part of the reason the new generation avoids your places of worship. You’re playing only on one end of the court. You seem content just to defend the faith. Would anyone play or much less watch if the teams never shot at all, even denying there was a basket?

And now with apology to my spirit-led, wading in the river, glory-cloud, gold tooth filled, oil dripping from their palms, friends. It’s time to “D-up” or in non-basketball lingo: scripture is profitable, all scripture, rightly divide it. Ok, so who are you in my basketball heaven analogy? Try “and1” (translation: street ball, high-flying and high-fiving with a DJ and a lot of bass; extremely experiential always looking for the new moves)

Consider this description of streetball from Wikipedia:

While the rules of Streetball are essentially/theoretically the same as normal basketball, Streetball places a higher emphasis on one-on-one matchups between the offense and defender. Often the attacker will perform numerous flashy moves while attempting to drive to the basket, including crossovers, jab steps, and other fake-out tricks. Streetball often features spectacular dunks and alley oops, impressive ball handling, and trash talking. Also featured in streetball are moves. A move is either used to trick the defender to look away, or just to confuse. There are many different moves in the streetball world. Rules vary widely from court to court. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetball)

Substitute a few words with pastor or worship leader and change the basketball terms to current church jargon and I see an apt description of the hype and charismania many are also rejecting.

Returning to basketolgy, let’s play both ends of the court. Our choice is not between “full-court press and run and gun” (translation: “run and gun” being only offensive minded, score as quickly as possible) You don’t choose whichever The Word or the Spirit; it is not either/or but both/and.

Currently my own journey and those with whom I am in community with are “practicing” how to play on both ends of the court. The game of basketball is enjoyed by many because it is fluid and equally mixes offense and defense and everyone gets to participate. My community is attempting to develop the same fluid motion and integration between the love and knowledge of God’s word mixed with the joy of the Spirit of God as a basketball coach stresses “transition” by his team. (last translation: “transition” the change between offense to defense or defense to offense; when it is seamless and apparently immediate there is great success on the court)

An "and1" video for those who are unfamiliar with the culture: