Church and World Cup 2: Stories
It’s All About the Story You Tell
Wayne Rooney is a striker (forward, goal-scorer) on England’s national team. When he’s not playing for Queen and country, he plays for Manchester United. In that capacity, at age 28 he’s scored 216 goals, making him the third-highest goal-scorer in the history of that storied team. He’s led MU to five championships in England’s Premier League, arguably one of the top leagues in the world, and one title in the EUFA Champions League, where the top teams from all the various continental leagues compete. At age 17 he made his debut on England’s national team, making him the youngest player to don England’s colors, and since then he has played 95 games and scored 40 goals, making him the fourth highest goal scorer in England’s history.
And yet despite all this success, the story most often told about Wayne Rooney, particularly in the weeks leading up to the World Cup, was that he’d never scored a goal for England during the World Cup.
That’s right. Despite being wildly successful as a footballer (soccer player), the story folks were telling all the way up to the second of England’s three matches was that Wayne Rooney was cursed, or couldn’t come up with what England needed, or was a disappointment, or should be replaced, or…. You get the picture.
Rooney put this behind him with a goal in England’s second World Cup match, scoring against Uruguay. England lost that match, however, and was out of the tournament after the opening round.
So what will Wayne Rooney be remembered for? Being one of England’s most talented footballers of all time? Or for being the guy who couldn’t score until he did when it seems to have mattered least? I hope it’s the former, of course, because that seems both a more accurate and more important story to tell, but you never know. It’s not that the latter story is false – Wayne Rooney indeed only scored one goal in his World Cup career, and that in a losing cause. But it’s not the whole story. In fact, in the long sweep of things, it’s a relatively minor part. Moreover, while I have no idea how much Rooney himself believed or was bothered by the story being told about his World Cup woes, I can’t imagine it helped.
All of which leads me to the second thing I’ve learned about our life in the church from watching the World Cup: It’s all about the story you tell.
I know any number of churches that are overlooking significant sources of celebration, thanksgiving, and joy because they focus on the one or two things that aren’t going right. Growth in excitement and Christian identity and commitment by a congregation as a whole is overshadowed by a dip in attendance. The increase of the number of folks using the preschool or social services overshadowed by the recent departure of families over some conflict. The list of examples, of course, could run on, as we tend to be drawn to focus on what’s wrong, on what’s not working, on where we are at risk.
I suspect this was a pretty useful skill as we evolved as a species in a rather threatening environment. But it occurs me that we are at a point where if we focus primarily on threat we risk losing the energy and enthusiasm and opportunity of focusing on accomplishments worth celebrating. Moreover, I’m a big believe that what we focus on tends to shape and even dominate our future. Focus on problems, we’ll have more problems. Focus on success, and we’ll have more of that.
That’s not an invitation to deny challenges, but rather to keep them in perspective. An image I’ve found helpful is the relationship we naturally understand between the rearview mirror and the windshield. Yes, we keep track of potential threats and risks by looking into the rearview mirror, but the good driver gives most of her attention to what’s coming – to the strengths, successes, and opportunities that lie on the road ahead.
The story you tell – about your career, your family, your life, your congregation – makes all the difference. So what story are you telling?
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