Annunciation

My household growing up was not very tapped into the world of sports, as my parents weren't ardent fans of any sports teams, and it is hard to enjoy professional ballgames when there is no tv in the house. I did become a bit of a Cubs fan though at a young age, maybe 8 or 9?, when my dad took me to a Cubs game one summer. My mom packed snacks and she froze some orange juice in a juice concentrate can with a replaceable lid so that I could drink it as it melted on the hot day. I'm sure we did buy a hot-dog or something at the park, we weren't that cheap! I remember the crowd chanting "Jody, Jody," when he came up to bat and so I decided Jody Davis was my favorite player, partly because he was the only player whose name I remember learning that day. I think Ryne Sandberg was also playing for the Cubs at that time, and I know I liked some other player because he was left-handed like me. Was it Leon Durham?

I did know who Harry Caray was, mainly because in the summer when we'd drive anywhere or if I was playing outside at someone's house, there would most likely be the noise of WGN radio in the background with Caray announcing a game for the Cubs. I didn't realize at the time that Harry Caray was famous for his style of announcing, I just thought that is how announcers all were. He'd get really excited about home runs, always throw in a few promotional comments for Budweiser, tell many side stories (here's a funny impersonation of him by John Campanera)sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in his own way and say Holy Cow a lot.

I just found a quote that is attributed to Caray: "My whole philosophy is to broadcast the way a fan would broadcast." From the little that I just read about his biography, it seems that that philosophy was not always welcome at other jobs he had announcing baseball games, but that his style of announcing went over well with Chicago baseball fans, first White Sox, then Cubs.

One of his most famous lines was when he was calling a home run: "It Might Be, It could be, it is! Holy Cow, a home run!" How could you not get excited when hearing that kind of announcing, even if you were only listening by radio while sweeping out the garage?

Here's part of the Merriam-Webster definition for the word broadcast:

Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): broadcast also broad·cast·ed; broad·cast·ing
Date: 1813
transitive verb
1 : to scatter or sow (as seed) over a broad area
2 : to make widely known
3 : to transmit or make public by means of radio or television

I never really thought of the gardening meaning of broadcast until I read the directions of one of the seed packets (peas) I purchased this year for my vegetable garden. It said: "broadcast the seed in a 1-3' wide bed."

Here's another merriam-webster.com definition that is relevant to where I'm going with all these middle of the night ruminations:

an·nounce
transitive verb
1: to make known publicly : proclaim
2 a: to give notice of the arrival, presence, or readiness of b: to indicate beforehand : foretell
3: to serve as an announcer of

I am sensing so much anxiety among people I "do church" with. How do we save souls, how do we help the broken communities, how do we balance the budget, how do we keep the visitors coming back, how do we interest the kids? I think if we lift our eyes up to the bleachers we will find our help. What if we could learn from Harry Caray how to do our job as announcers of the good news of the resurrection? We don't have to be the professional athletes and win the game for the world. We don't have to be selling the hot dogs and beer, we don't have to be the managers worrying about how this franchise will keep afloat or how we'll keep our jobs after yet another losing season. We just have to call the home-runs with the anticipation, exuberance and confidence of an announcer who broadcasts the way a fan would broadcast.

One of the reasons I appreciate The Message paraphrase of the Bible that is written by Eugene Peterson is because the language style carries the exuberance of someone who is noticing, enjoying and proclaiming what God is doing in this world. It is similar to the language style of an announcer who is working hardest and doing his job best when enjoying a few cold beers, telling some stories, singing the same ol' song every 7th inning, and broadcasting with a contagious confidence that even during the apparent losing streaks, the fans will keep showing up, and they'll never stop loving this game, and never get sick of hearing him remark "Holy Cow!" with delight at what he can see happening on the field.

Close your eyes and envision a hot summer day at Wrigley Field in 1984, the crowd, the noises, the singing, and way up there is Harry Caray up in his booth announcing the game for everyone who can't see the action with their own eyes. When you have that picture vivid in your head, read this:

Isaiah 52:7-10 (The Message)

How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger bringing good news,
Breaking the news that all's well,
proclaiming good times, announcing salvation,
telling Zion, "Your God reigns!"
Voices! Listen! Your scouts are shouting, thunderclap shouts,
shouting in joyful unison.
They see with their own eyes
God coming back to Zion.
Break into song! Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem:
"God has comforted his people!
He's redeemed Jerusalem!"
God has rolled up his sleeves.
All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm.
Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other,
sees him at work, doing his salvation work.

"It Might Be, It Could Be, It Is! Holy Cow!"