A Case of Boo's

I was sitting with my 9-year old son Luke the other night, watching the Celts play the Portland Trailblazers. At one point, the Celts went on a roll and part of the reason was that Portland was playing awful, almost like they weren't even trying. I said, "They're going to start booing them pretty soon."

Luke's head snapped at me and he asked, "Who's going to boo?"

"The fans are going to start booing the Trailblazers."

"But it's in Portland."

"I know."

Then he looked really confused. "You mean fans boo their own team?"

Oh Luke. You naive, maladjusted, confused little fan. Where did I go wrong? As a Boston sports fan, how could you not know? That's what we do best! I must admit, I loved his child-like innocence in thinking that supporters only supported, but I had to laugh - he'll learn, and he'll probably boo along with the rest of us.

Then I started thinking about how he had it right and that we were the ones that were skewed off course. Why would we boo a team we profess to love? I would think that support in times of poor play would actually encourage them to play better.

Well, anyway - the other day I'm listening to some people talk about another church. It seems to be doing well, and I heard, for lack of a better term, these fellow Christians 'boo' this church. I was struck by that and thought in my heart, "You mean Christians boo their own team?"

Oh Tom. You naive, maladjusted, confused little Christian. Where did you go wrong? As a follower of Christ, how could you not know? That's what we do best! In my child-like innocence, I thought that supporters actually supported.

We love stumbles in churches and Christians and we love to rip apart a church that God seems to be using. When we do this, we reveal that our heart isn't truly in Kingdom Advancement, it's in kingdom advancement. Our own personal kingdoms, not the universal kingdom of God. If God is blessing us, then all is right in our little fiefdom. But heaven forbid - literally - another church have blessings pour upon it. Or heaven forbid a Christian or a ministry actually struggle with something. Either one of these (extreme) circumstances aren't allowed in our ministry building, so we do what we do best - we boo.

Here's a real sign of fan maturity: The ability to cheer on your team without having to rip the other team apart.

Here's a real sign of Christian maturity: The ability to pray for your church without having to rip another church apart.