Welcome to the Club

For years I have been marking the start of football (American style) in a two sided manner.  On the one hand, as a fan, I watch games I don't really care about much, just because football is back, and because I'm trying to sort out my fantasy football team.  On the other hand, as a pastor, the church being in a sort of erstwhile competition with the NFL for the Sundays of America, I have made jokes about how church will be done before kickoff. But this year, I came to a conclusion that it has perhaps taken me too long to finally admit, but it's time to acknowledge something, and do so without any bitterness or resentment: sports is a religion.
Not only is sports a religion, but in many cases, especially in affluent western countries like the United States, it's kicking the Church's butt.  The two things that people call football are perhaps the most obvious competition.  The American version is played mostly on Sundays, and I very rarely hear people complaining about it taking too much of their time.  Soccer (the other football), may not be quite as much of a phenomenon in this country as it is abroad, but give it time, the concussion issue and the fact that we are now shifting so much of our emphasis with kids to soccer is going to make an impact going forward.  I have been to Europe though, and I have seen the devotion that Real Madrid and La Liga evoke in Spain.  I have learned a bit about the zeal that many Brits have, not just for the Premiere league, but for local clubs, which consist of plumbers and accountants booting it around the pitch, and frankly, any church would be glad to have such energy about its mission. And even in less crowd oriented games, like golf, the religious intention shows through.  I'm always impressed with the advertising that leads up to the Master's Tournament. It's practically liturgical in style and substance, except it's about a bunch of guys hitting a little ball around a very beautiful and expensive series of lawns.
But you know what? It's not worth fighting any more, so I'm going to offer some friendly advice to the latest addition to the world of religion.  I mean this quite seriously, even if my sarcasm peeks out at times.  Take this advice sports world, you're going to need it, because you have decided to wade into the waters of human hopes, dreams and devotion, and this can get deep quickly.

1. You're going to have to develop a social conscience.  No matter how much you might want to just play ball, people are assigning significance to what you do and what you say.  You want to be about equality and fair play and good sportsmanship, those are important for sure, but they are going to come into conflict with the larger cultural events of our society. Your players and coaches are going to say things and do things that reflect their values, and sometimes they're going to make people mad and sometimes they're going to inspire people.  A lot of the time this will happen concurrently.  You're going to get people who tell you that you shouldn't be so political, and you're going to have to decide whether or not to ignore them. This is not always easy, the church often gets this one wrong, one way or another.  Over the course of time, values are what matter, pleasing people is an unwinnable game.
2. You're going to have to be super vigilant about protecting the vulnerable, and I'm not just talking about player safety, in fact, I'm not really talking about player safety at all.  I'm talking about the fact that people are trusting you with their children.  Seriously, we can barely pull together Sunday School and Youth Group stuff any more because people have got their kids going to some sort of sports practice or game almost every night of the week.  And I see you embracing this role too, with your little commercials about kids who benefit from the discipline and and purpose that sports gives you, but when people trust you with their kids, you had better protect those kids, or else stuff is going to go down. Larry Nassar and Jerry Sandusky have proven that sports can be a fertile hunting ground for pederasts, any place that young people are tends to become that way.  I know you think it's never going to happen in your program, but let me tell you, it very well might, and when it does, you had better learn to stop trying to quash the news and hide it in the closet. Take it from the Roman Catholics, that is going to make it much, much worse in the long run.  Remember that Joe Paterno was practically the Pope of College football and his refusal to see what Sandusky was up to brought him down.  Until JoePa, I didn't believe it was possible to actually die of shame, but I think that's what happened.
3. You should also learn how to treat women.  I know, coming from a member of clergy, this seems really hypocritical.  Historically the church is about as patriarchal and often misogynistic as you can get, but I'm trying to give you the benefit of a wisdom that took us nearly 2000 year to realize.  I get it, men and women are different, the WNBA and the NBA practically look like different sports, but there are places in all of sport where the glass ceiling just seems way too thick.  You had better learn to recognize that, every once in a while, a female sports figure can transcend our usual sexism.  You're missing the boat on Serena Williams right now, I know you think you're glowing about her, but that lady could and probably should be Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods rolled into one (and without the baggage).  She should be your high priestess right now, you're only letting her be an impressive sideshow.
4. Finally, put your ego aside, and don't think you are in competition with other sports or other religions.  That's not how this works, and I do so wish that the church would actually understand this too.  The reservoir of human hopes and faith is massive, in fact, I would go so far as to say infinite.  We have a deep need to believe in things.  We have a profound ability to hope that's why there are still Cleveland Browns fans. (until last year I could have said Philadelphia Eagle's fans, but I don't have to any more!) At our very best we want to invest in something bigger than ourselves, the church has squandered this in ways too many and too painful to count.  Don't make that same mistake.

In the spirit of trying to follow #4, I am offering you these pieces of advice in good faith. I might still get a little frustrated when I have to re-schedule church activities because of a playoff game, but I am done trying to swim against the tide.  Welcome to the gang Sports.