Tending the Fire that Burns at the Center of the World Beauty and the Church’s Ministry David F. White
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hen I was a child in the 1960s, most summer Saturday mornings were filled with household chores. As my family cleaned, mowed, and cooked, the air was filled with the rich tones of our Lucite radio blaring the playby-play of some distant baseball game, usually my beloved New York Yankees. When I was seven, my family traveled from Mississippi to visit relatives in Maryland. To our delight, my Maryland uncle had secured tickets for my father and me to see the Baltimore Orioles play at Memorial Stadium. We sat behind home plate about ten rows up. Nestled between my father and uncle, crunching Cracker Jacks, I breathlessly awaited the opening pitch. I can still recall the giant halide stadium lights, the smell of new-mown grass in the outfield, the red dirt in the batter’s box, the cloud rising from the resin bag on the pitcher’s mound, and the growling Hammond organ. When the players took the field, I was astonished by the magnificence of their uniforms, their resplendent knee-breeches, the orange Oriole embroidered on their caps and sleeves, the sensual click of their metal cleats. Although Church of Christ kids were expected to suppress such feelings, to me these players were gods. When the action commenced, I was instantly drawn into the game’s ballet—the pitcher’s windup, his showdown with a defiant batter, the fielders cheating right or left adjusting to the swing of the batter, the baserunners’ acrobatic hook slide,
David White is The C. Ellis and Nancy Gribble Nelson Professor of Chris-
tian Education at Austin Seminary. Educated at Asbury Seminary and Claremont School of Theology, he is ordained in the United Methodist Church. He has written several books including Joy: A Guide for Youth Ministry (2020). He served recently as a scholar in the Theology of Joy and the Good Life project at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture.
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