The new Christianity: Tebow and the Pope

You don't get to read statements like this often: "When it comes to Christianity right now it's the Pope and Tebow." The question, then, is how do you feel about that? Is that not a statement about the world today? I mean, come on, the two figures who, apparently, lead people to think most about Christianity are a football player (a second-string football player at that) and a perfect human who leads the world's largest denomination but who at 85 can barely get around.

Tebow, the second-string quarterback for the New York Jets, preached on Easter, as did the Pope. Tebow told stories about his own faith. The Pope, er, not so much.

Tebow described how God deserves all the glory. The Pope, er, no so much. Tebow called Pastor Joe Champion at Celebration Church in Georgetown, Texas, to ask if he could preach. The Pope, er, called no one.

The church Tebow preached at rented more than 100 buses to drive people to the service, some of whom arrived wearing Denver Broncos (Tebow's previous team) jerseys. Tebow preached to about 15,000 people. The Pope preached to 100,000.

"Obviously, it's our Super Bowl. Easter is the resurrection of Christ in which we celebrate in our faith," Champion said.

Champion said that despite his famous guest Sunday, the message is still that God is great.

"There will be a sacredness of Easter. It's not a Tim Tebow show; it's not about a celebrity," Champion said. I believe he said it with a straight face, though it was no heard with one.

Not sure if the actions of wearing jerseys and taking bus trips to hear someone who can't speak very well generally speak through a loud-speaker in an oudoor service would agree with that statement.

Maybe that's simply where we are in our world, in our worship, that Christianity can be about the Pope or Tim Tebow. Maybe we've reached a stage in our worship path that the person who should be in that trio, Christ himself, isn't mentioned there. Maybe Easter has been so take over by candy and bunnies that it might as well be taken over by men. Maybe it was inevitable. Or maybe this whole Tim Tebow thing, rating enough of a story that a newspaper with no room for news (like the local Times-Picayune) still would give column inches to the fact that a Christian quarterback would talk about Christ on Easter.

The greater story would be if a Christian did not speak about Christ on Easter, but they probably wouldn't want to publish that story ... unless it, of course, was about Tebow publicly denying his faith in Christ.

Then it would be on the cover of Time or Newsweek. And 24-hour sports channels would be filled with 24-hour Tebow news. Oh, it already is. Sorry, forgot about Tebowing, that action which looks so suspiciously like, oh, praying.

Look, I'm glad Tebow is doing what Jesus said to do: Go and make disciples. He is sharing the good news given him and his family, and they are honest and authentic about their faith, he and his family. I don't doubt that for a minute.

It's the ones who have decided this is news that worry me. Or the fact that a pastor, who I assume believes he has been called by God to deliver the good news, gives up his pulpit whenever a "name" calls and asks him to. That more people came to the service, I do not doubt. Whether more people came to Christ, I wonder sincerely.

In the end, we're to help Christ by being his hands and feet in the world, a world in which Christianity is defined by Tebow and the Pope. The problem is, I don't think that's the world I, or we, live in.