Coaching

News flash is that coaches weren't allowed to march in the Olympic opening ceremonies. They needed to cut back on the number of participants and the coaches were the ones to go. US coach Geno Auriemma is quoted as saying "To be honest the Olympics are about the athletes. No one really remembers who the coaches were. No one remembers who coached Jesse Owens." True enough coach, I certainly don't remember. But Jesse Owens did have a coach, as has every outstanding athlete in history. I was visiting the exhibit at the Blanton and saw a BCE bas-relief showing the coaches preparing young athletes in the "gymnasium." The coach is the one with the nerve to look the fastest runner on the planet in the eye and tell him/her they can run faster, and this is how to do it. Everybody needs a coach. Stewards in training need coaches as well. When I started this idea of an anonymous Steward's Circle that could exist virtually, I may have overlooked the importance of community for spiritual growth. Can we achieve that type of community virtually? Can we carry on our personal spiritual growth without a coach to call us to task? John Wesley didn't think so. That's one thing his small groups were for. Can we re-create the ethos of the spiritual coaching tradition we have inherited?