05/28/2024
So, I finally did it. After twelve years in Indy, I took a Sunday off and went to the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500.
For all of you race fans, I get it. It’s exciting. The speed, the thunderous sound of the cars flying by, the anticipation of the race with, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” and the jets roaring overhead. Yep. Pretty exciting. And I haven’t even mentioned the thrilling finish.
But the actual event itself is not what captivated my attention. What intrigued me the most were the people, and not the way you might think. Yes, there were people walking around having had more than their fair share of beverage consumption. And there were those oddities of fashion and behavior.
What intrigued me the most, however, was the very idea of 350,000 people gathering together to participate in a shared moment. I guarantee you that probably half of those who attended could really care less about the race itself, but they still showed up. Why?
Why would 350,000 people pay money, experience horrendous traffic, put up with exorbitant prices for food, stand in long lines to go into health-hazard bathrooms, sit on uncomfortable bleachers, or try to find a decent spot in the infield, leave said uncomfortable bleachers for a 4-hour rain delay, and actually return for more of the same?
I believe the answer is simply this: The experience of a shared moment. You can watch races on TV, you can have endless entertainment options at the push of a button on your remote, you can experience the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat through your laptop or computer, but there is nothing like being with 350,000 other people all sharing in the same moment.
From my perspective, this goes back to the way God created us. He created us for community. He created us to be with others. While many of us long for and enjoy alone time, there is something special about going to a live concert, a Pacers game, or the Indy 500. Yes, the history and tradition of the particular event play into our motivation to attend, but even more than the event itself are the memories of tailgating or sitting on lawn chairs in the infield of the Speedway.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community…. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone…. Only in the fellowship do we learn to be rightly alone and only in aloneness do we learn to live rightly in the fellowship” (Life Together, 77-78).
This leads us to the theological implication of what it means to be a “church.” Although I am grateful for online worship services and preaching, we need to come together in person to encounter the “shared moment.” The Apostle Paul wrote the church in Corinth, “The eye cannot say to the hand, `I don’t need you!’ Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, `I don’t need you!’” (1 Corinthians 12:21, ESV). Encountering the presence of Christ with the body of Christ leads to deeper growth in Christ.
And guess what? You don’t even have to sit on bleachers.
