God as a sports fan

Maybe you saw or heard the comments after Green Bay beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night.

The dig that Rodgers took at Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, a very vocal Christian, was small but it was certainly there.

After Seattle beat Green Bay in January for the NFC championship on the way to its second-straight Super Bowl appearance, Wilson said of the Seahawks' dramatic come-from-behind victory, "That's God setting it up, to make it so dramatic, so rewarding, so special." Wilson also thanked God while he was crying on the field during a postgame interview on Fox.

After the Packers hung on to beat the Seahawks Sunday night, in the postgame interview, Rodgers (for some reason) showed a bit of his ability to hold grudges. "I don't think God cares a whole lot about the outcome. He cares about the people involved, but I don't think he's a big football fan."

Then he hammered the point home, with just a wisp of a smile, "And then getting help from God. I think God was a Packers fan tonight."

This is pretty much an extension of a debate about what part God plays in the lives of football players. Some point to the sky and give God thanks and praise on nearly every play. Some don't, though they remain faithful in other ways.

Tim Tebow is the obvious example of someone who (though apparently out of NFL football for good, now) would certainly give God the thanks if he scored.

A while back I wrote about the difference between Rodgers and Tebow in this way.

"Well I started playing before Tim," Rodgers said, "so these are things I've thought about for a long time, and I think one thing that I try to look at when I was a younger player, and I mean, in high school, junior college and Division I, I was always interested in seeing how guys talked in their interviews, talked about their faith, or didn't talk about their faith. And then the reactions at times, I know Bob Costas at one point was critical about a player thanking Jesus Christ after a win, questioning what would happen if that player had lost, or do you really think God cares about winning and losing."

"I feel like my stance and my desire has always been to follow a quote from St. Francis of Assisi, who said, 'Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.' So basically, I'm not an over-the-top, or an in-your-face kind of guy with my faith. I would rather people have questions about why I act the way I act, whether they view it as positive or not, and ask questions, and then given an opportunity at some point, then you can talk about your faith a little bit. I firmly believe, just personally, what works for me, and what I enjoy doing is letting my actions speak about the kind of character that I want to have, and following that quote from St. Francis.''

Tebow is a little different, you might say.  I once saw him in a two-minute clip being asked a question about how his team had come back to win one more time, and he began with "First, I want to thank my Lord and Savior."

I've written before that there is nothing wrong with this. He is praising his Savior. This is who Tebow is, was, and I suspect strongly will always be. Nothing wrong with that if it is indeed sincere.

The question, I would think, becomes what are you trying to accomplish by saying something like that so often? If it is to help others to Christ, or to spark some curiosity or simply being in a praising mood, I doubt pounding a chest, pointing a finger toward heaven or whatever helps a viewer all that much -- if that was the intent. 

But I admire the courage, the praise-worthiness, the (I hope) spur of the moment desire to share one's accomplishments with the One who has made it possible. 

But I also want to say that if making disciples is our main job as Christians, keeping silent always might not be the best way to go.

So who is right? Russell, Rodgers, Tebow?

All, of course. Speak and act. Act and speak. 

Give glory to God and be a glory to God.