Spring Training is one of the many great reasons to live in the Phoenix metro area. We have the luxury of attending Spring Training games every year without the need to spend money on expensive flights, hotels, or restaurants, and we can see pretty well any teams we’d like. People from across the country and around the world flock to Arizona and Florida this time of year to embark on a pilgrimage to see their favorite teams in action. It’s really a neat experience to be so close to Major League players. Spring Training games are important for teams because the players sometimes need to work out kinks from the long winter off, and sometimes there are rules changes they need to learn to live with. This year is a year when a number of rules changes are taking effect, and I have heard grumbling about them from players and fans alike. “I like it the way it used to be!” people will say. “Why did we have to change it?” Although many things in life do change, there is at least one constant: people do not like change.
There’s something nice about familiarity. It’s comforting to know what’s going to happen and when and where and how. We are creatures of habit and we like things to stay the way they are. Every living thing, and many non-living things, thrive on achieving homeostasis. Groups of people appreciate homeostasis. If you’ve ever come up with an idea of something different and new and other people in the group system (at work, at home, at school, etc.) seemed to feel like they were pushing you away, that’s because of the natural tendency to move toward a state of homeostasis. Your suggestion stirred things up. Even if the others in the group weren’t aware of their behavior, they were still uncomfortable with the idea of implementing change.
I think some of the new rules in baseball are helpful. Others seem a little unnecessary. But what do I know about it? I’m not a player, I’m a spectator. But there are always criticisms in sports when rules are changed. “Football isn’t like it was in the old days!” I’ve heard people say. The NCAA has clamped down on preventing head injuries by implementing rules against targeting a defenseless player’s head and neck. When targeting is called and confirmed by video replay, the offending player is ejected for up to a total of four quarters. If a targeting penalty is called in the second half of a game, then that player must sit out the rest of that game and the first half of the next game. When this rule went into effect, targeting was called at staggering rates. But since that time, players have learned to play with the new rules and the foul is not committed anywhere near as much as it was a few years ago. Player safety is enhanced as a result.
When Notre Dame Stadium took out its traditional grass playing surface and replaced it with artificial turf a few years back, some of the purists thought a blasphemy had been committed. The turf was intended to reduce injuries and requires the use of much less water and maintenance, saving money and the earth at the same time. When the video display and scoreboard was added to the stadium’s south end zone, you’d have thought the football world was collapsing! “Notre Dame doesn’t do those things!” long-time fans complained. “We like our football the way it used to be! With grass and with no video display board”. Surely enough, fans learned to appreciate the video board and the playing surface is at worst a non-issue.
Basketball’s implementation of a shot clock and a three-point line enhanced the excitement of the game, turning it into a razzle-dazzle spectator sport with lots of scoring. Fans pay big money to watch basketball games these days. MLB’s rules changes are intended to increase viewership and fan engagement as well. The NFL’s introducing of video replay took some getting used to, but the outcome is that the call can be overturned and the outcome of the game is determined by the players rather than the officials. But one thing remains true in all of these scenarios: when the rules change, it takes some getting used to.
This is true for sports, it’s true for the workplace, and it’s true for churches. When something changes, people say they want it the way it used to be. The “new” Book of Common Prayer was released more than 40 years ago. Yet to this day, I still hear people tell me how much they preferred the “old” Prayer Book from 1928. We are nearly to a point where the ’79 Prayer Book has been in use for just as long as the ’28 Prayer Book was used. In fact, the “new” Prayer Book is older than your Rector. People take their worship very seriously. Many of us in this congregation are recovering Roman Catholics, so we know that Catholics have doctrine and dogma to hold onto as kind of an emotional security blanket. But because the Episcopal Church is not what we’d call a dogmatic church, Episcopalians hold on to worship practices and liturgical objects in a similar way. I’ve innocently moved candles in the past because, for instance, I was worried about bumping into them. But when the person who donated those candles saw the change, their reactions would have seemed like I had punched one of their relatives in the face. “That candle belongs there because that’s where it belongs!”
Change in the Church is a good thing. Imagine if we did things today exactly the way they were done 2000 years ago. We’d all be worshipping in a language no one speaks anymore. We wouldn’t know what the scriptures were saying and we wouldn’t understand anything that was happening. The Church needs to change and grow within context. St. John’s has wonderful former Rectors and each one has brought a slightly different perspective. Fr. Bruce is a great guy and he did a lot of great things. That’s exactly why I don’t try to emulate him. If I tried to be Fr. Bruce, I would be doing both he and I a disservice. Fr. Harry is another great guy. But he and I are different, and he and Fr. Bruce are different. Some things we did in worship when Fr. Harry was here are different than things we did when Fr. Bruce was here, which in turn are different now that Fr. Tim is here.
When we implement change at St. John’s, I try to be conscientious about your feelings and your customs that bring you joy and enhance your worship. The truth is, it’s not about me. It’s about you. I’m the one who needs to be the most flexible in worship. I’m not here to impose a worship style on you. I’m here to empower you to worship as it is meaningful to you and to lead you in spiritual practices that hopefully enhance your prayer life. Essentially, I want you to know that I’m not being reckless with change. Change can shake us up, but a return to “normal” helps us to plant our feet again. I appreciate your willingness to be flexible in worship and to allow me to lead you spiritually by giving you little (and sometimes bigger) nudges. Our goal at the end of every worship service is to feel a little closer to God than we were when we walked in the door. While it is not possible for this to occur after every single worship service, I hope you find it to be the case more often than not. Just like the athletes who eventually adjust to rules changes to enhance the game, I am confident that we can adjust to change in the Church to enhance our spiritual lives.