Religion seems to take a front seat in sporting events in the last few moments. There are prayers for a hail Mary pass that might win the game, and the bench warmers staring into the heavens with hopes of angels carrying the ball to a preferred location. Then there is the Gospel according to Ray Lewis.
I spent much of seminary trying to balance The Gospel of Ray : The Good, the Bad, and how it falls upon me. Lewis seems to think that all the good things happening in his life lately is proof of his elect status. Winning the Super Bowl, to him, meant he was on the right track because God would not allow good things to happen were he doing the wrong thing. Okay, plenty of people have used this reasoning, but that's so 11-13th century.
What's so bad about this? It creates a division within the body of Christ. Does the Ravens win mean that God does not favor me or the Green Bay Packers? My goodness, most of the country is in for a very sad year if that's true (Sorry Lions fans). What about the people who don't even care about football? Are they condemned to purgatory until they cleanse their evil baseball ways? People, I can't believe God plays like that.
When we play to be on a winning side, we view others as...well... others. It's sibling rivalry for the love of a parent with enough love for all. It doesn't comfort in times of trial but can lead to a greater sense of loneliness. Job doesn't need any more friends like that.
After three years actively wrestling with this question of Election, I came to this conclusion - let God be God, and let me be human. Bad things will happen because bad things sometimes just happen. Good things happen because sometimes they just happen. The difference between Ray Lewis and me is I don't believe God will ever stop rooting for me.
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