House of Worship

There are many churches and Houses of Worship. Some are small, one-room buildings, some are modest facilities that house congregations like ours at Woodside, there are the huge mega churches like Rick Warren’s Saddleback and there are any numbers of places that fall in between. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to see such famous spiritual homes as Notre Dame and Winchester Cathedral. The Vatican, in Rome, is the center of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet none of these can lay claim to being spiritual home to an entire nation. There is only one place that can make that claim: Fenway Park, home of Red Sox Nation.

I wish that I could remember all of the times I’ve been able to “worship” at Fenway. I know there were 2 to 4 times as a child, with my father and brothers. I know there was once when we took my father and brother-in-law. There was the time my step-son, Jim, and I went. And there was that magic night in October 2004 when the Red Sox were down 0-3 to the Yankees and my brother, a friend and I went to game four; the first game of the comeback of the ages leading to the breaking of the 86 year “Curse of the Babe.”

Yesterday I had the opportunity to introduce Lizzy, my 16 year old daughter (I can’t believe I have a 16 year old daughter) to Fenway. I was once again reminded that Fenway is more than just a baseball park; it’s history. Ted, Yaz and Rice patrolled left field for 47 years. Now Jason Bay tries to follow in their footsteps. Big Papi has followed in the tradition of Double X and Boomer, other power hitting big men. And like Pudge before him, V-Tek anchors the plate and commands the field. Only Wrigley Field can challenge Fenway in the history department. While Wrigley is in its 95th year, Fenway is celebrating the 97th year of baseball. There isn’t another park even 50 years old.

And the park itself is special: Pesky’s Pole, the center field triangle, and of course, that most famous of ballpark features: The Green Monstah. And these aren’t creations of an architect trying to come up with new “oddities” to make a newly created ballpark more commercially successful. Fenway Park’s features came from a need to fit a playing field into a specific plot of land.

Despite a poor showing from the home team (6 to nothing shutout with only two hits) we were fortunate to experience a bit of history ourselves. On July 6, 2009, Nomar Garciaparra, former rookie of the year and fan-favorite of Boston, made his first return to Fenway Park since being traded during the Championship season of 2004. The ovation and outpouring of love that was showered down on “Nomah”, gave us something to remember for a long time. Being able to experience Fenway with my daughter; that’s something I’ll remember forever.

Say a prayer for somebody today.