My wife and I both play with friends. At least we call them friends. Most are acquaintances, some are strangers we meet at Round Robins or while competing at other clubs, and then there are friends. We laugh together, socialize, party, and genuinely enjoy each other’s company. When it comes to playing, we accept faults and unforced errors, laugh at missed shots, and leave the courts still friends.
But what of the players we don’t like, whose play is faulty, style awkward, and manners unforgiving. These do not become friends, but should there be some element of friendship that we extend to them?
It is with these players that we confront what friendship really means, and it extends beyond tennis. Is it a duty—an obligation—that in some way is required of us?
Consider what friendship means with Christ.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
— John 15:13–15, NIV
I don’t look at this passage literally to mean that I lay down my life (as in take an overhead in the gut), do what my partner commands (as in hug the alley) or to share the wisdom I have learned from coaches or hours of watching pro tennis. What I understand this to mean is to accept human frailty (my own included), to see beyond the game to more important things, and to help the individual enjoy the game as best as he or she can. May this be thought of as a tennis ministry? Is there an element of love based on acceptance and forgiveness that we need to incorporate into our lives?
Can I say, “I know your weaknesses, I have your back, and it’s OK”? Isn’t this what Christ says to us and, if so, can I not say this to someone else? I can, but only with Christ’s help.
