Sermon on the Mound: Finding God at the Heart of the Game

by Michael O'Connor

Book Overview

O'Connor offers this look at the game of baseball as a parallel to God's working in a heart and life. With a perfect blend of baseball anecdotes, this book teaches valuable lessons about Christian... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764229133
• ISBN13: 9780764229138
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
• Length: 180 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Sermon On The Mound- A Hit Outta The Park

Michael O'Connor has hit a grand slam home run with this thought provoking and heartwarming book about the Spiritual connection between baseball and God, our Creator. Whether you love baseball as I do, or not, doesn't matter. The stories he shares will tug at your heart strings because they involve the relationships between parents and children, husbands and wives, and those people that move in and out of our lives. Michael successfully uses baseball as a way of illustrating the kind of love and relationship that God wants to have with each of us through His Son, Jesus Christ. The book is written in such a way that as you read it you will see a movie such as "The Sandlot" or a TV show like "The Wonder Years" play out in your head. You will hear the narrator retelling his life stories; both successes and failures. The book is divided into innings instead of chapters. One of which is entilted "No Crying In Baseball"; which is a line of dialogue taken from the movie "A League Of Their Own". By using an event that happened to him as a child during a game, as well as actual events that have occurred at the major league level, Michael shows us the emotional side of baseball. This book will bring out your emotions as well. It will make you laugh, cry and cause you to reflect on your life and your purpose for being here. It is a must-read, honest to God.

Sermon on the Mound

Sermon on the Mound beautifully articulates Michael O'Connor's passion for baseball and how God used that passion to draw Michael to him in a way that he could comprehend.Every man that played little league baseball as a boy and every parent who watched their son play will surely rejoice and agonize as Michael describes his victories and defeats.This book brings out the very best in all of us!

O'Connor knows the three H's:

This author displays honesty, humor and heart. Yes, serious Christians can laugh. For example: "Mom wouldn't have known Jackie Robinson from Jackie Gleason. All she knew was that her son was in love with a game that only loved him back a little." Baseball fans will respect O'Connor's love of the sport. Christians will cheer for his upbeat witnessing. This literary Rookie of the Year connects religion and the game with an all-star effort.

Much more than baseball

Curiosity made me purchase this book -- the author grew up in my neighborhood and we attended the same high school. But I was pretty sure I was going to have a hard time connecting with the book because my feelings towards baseball have got to be the antithesis of O'Connor's! I figured that it would appeal to me as much as needlework to a football jock. What a pleasant surprise "Sermon on the Mound" turned out to be! Yeah, there's a lot of baseball in it, but what touched me the most were the honest reminiscences of the feelings of a boy growing up and of a young man being shaped by the vicissitudes of life. And there's a wonderful love story within for those of us who don't know a designated hitter from a designated driver. But what I enjoyed the most is the picture of God's love Michael paints for us -- could it really be that He is "rooting for everyone and sitting with us at a game in the next seat, leaning back, laughing and cheering"? Baseball is merely Michael O'Connor's pretext for sharing his heart, which he does generously with us throughout the book. I thoroughly enjoyed "Sermon on the Mound" and heartily recommend it!

Author Touches All The Bases

Michael O'Connor has achieved something that rarely happens with christian humor books - he made me laugh! But to call this merely a christian humor book is to reduce the value of what I feel is a very important document. Michael has applied his laser wit and vision to his own life and the roles that God and baseball have played in making him the man he is today. Both have played a vital part in making him a better husband, a better father and a better man. His insight into his own weakness, which he quite painfully exposes to the healing touch of God, leave him stronger than even he can even fathom. A powerful book that will help anyone searching for God in the everyday world.