The Church and Sports

Recently I was driving to another city and was listening to Christian talk radio. I didn’t have time to pull over and take notes on what they were actually sharing with the listeners so if I miss represent the intent of those participating in the discussion I am deeply sorry.

The discussion centered on the Super Bowl and what should be the church’s proper response to the event and the hype. The book in question (again, I apologize to those involved, but I didn’t catch the title of the book) has a quote from Frank DeFord, a sports commentator. Mr. DeFord refers to sports as the “tar-baby” of today’s society. When the church gets close to the “tar-baby” it gets caught and the harder the church tries to free itself from the entanglement the harder the “ol’ tar-baby” takes hold.

I witnessed that first hand as the associate at First UMC, South Miami the year the Dolphins went undefeated. It was quite a ride and it was very easy to get caught up in all the excitement that it brought to the great city of Miami … especially since the senior pastor and I got to see most of the home games thanks to a generous member. In retrospect, I’m not really sure how the Rev. John Few, the senior pastor, was able to do it, but we could hold 11 o’clock worship, have him preach a full sermon, greet everybody after the service, change clothes, grab a bit to eat, drive over to the stadium, make it through the crowd, and find our seats for the 1 PM kickoff. It was a great ride, but oh the compromises we made in the process. We got caught by the ol’ tar-baby!

And so the ol’ tar-baby takes hold as churches that traditionally have Sunday evening services will either cancel them on Super Bowl Sunday or change the format in order to include a big screen TV along with a party. Other churches decide that they will take the higher ground, so to speak, and carry on with their regular Sunday evening activities even though very few people actually do attend. As one Baptist preacher shared once that there is a trade-off … something about the football fans and the baseball World Series fans trading off their church “responsibilities” concerning attendance during their seasonal activities. I’ve also seen a drop in attendance of the tennis group when breakfast at Wimbledon is televised. It sure is easy to get caught by the ol’ tar-baby!

And then there was the Rev. O. Dean Martin (no relationship to me) who was the pastor at Trinity UMC, Gainesville, FL and the chaplain to the Florida football team who would pronounce the benediction with an “Amen. Go Gators!” during football season. The congregation loved it!

And then you have the youth sports leagues that no longer bow to the wishes of the churches to stay away from Sundays for their games, practices, etc. Here the excuse is made that there are too many different religions with too many worship times to consider so they just throw away all requests operating as if the young boys and girls do not have any activities on Sunday morning. Go figure on that one!

Anyway … have a great Super Bowl Sunday and may, amongst all the hype and activity, God be included in your life! Amen. Go, Saints!

Quote for today: “God keeps an infinite equilibrium in creation; in every conflict, there’s an opportunity to serve God and restore that equilibrium. Everything points you in that direction.” Margaret Tomback