God is Not in the Football Game

"Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my success alone; but let me feel the grasp of your hand in my failure." Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Prize Laureate Poet

Yesterday afternoon's Vikings-New Orleans game was one for the history books. I haven't watched a game that riveting, that exciting in many years. Four lead changes in three minutes, won by a surprise TD on the last play, 60+ yards by Stefon Diggs.

And that was just after a 45-42 nail-biter Steelers loss earlier that day. What a day for football. The Super Bowl rarely comes close to this kind of suspense.

What disappointed me, and always has, is what certain players had to say after the game.

After much posturing, strutting, showcasing, and shenanigans, Stefon Diggs "gave it up to God."

Okay.

Case Keenum, rather than talk about the play or the game, gave it up to "Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior."

Um, okay.

Here's the problem I have with this. Your religious views are your own and you have a right to them. Not the issue.

But why don't you also give it up to God when you fumble, throw an interception, miss the tackle? Where's the gratitude when you muff the play?

Nobody heard or saw Marcus Williams praise Jesus Christ for whiffing the last-second play which cost New Orleans the game. I suspect Drew Brees didn't get down on his knees right after that final play and thank his Maker for such a valuable learning experience. Coach Sean Payton did not immediately look and point skyward, saying "Thank you."

Cam Newton famously sulked and stalked out of the press conference after his loss to the Broncos in Super Bowl 50. Where's God in all that? He most certainly did not thank his Maker for such a character-building experience.

This is the fundamental lie about religion on the playing field as well as in life. That's a pretty selective way to demonstrate your faith.

If you honestly, truly believe that God is in the game (and frankly I don't), then He deserves your thanks for when you are lousy as well as when you leap for that long ball. Why? Because if He deserves your thanks, it should be for everything. Most especially for when you fail. Without the losses, humiliations and down times, we have no compassion for others. Nor do we experience our limitations.

Besides, both sides of the ball are asking for God's help against the enemy. Someone's going to be sorely disappointed. Same in war. God is on nobody's "side." God just IS, however you understand your beliefs.

Rabindranath Tagore's great poems are reminders that we don't get to give thanks only for the good stuff. That's part-time faith. Part-time belief. We're only thankful when things are going well.

The only time I gain wisdom, insight, and true strength is when I fail, fall down, make massive mistakes, am rejected, beaten down and am struggling. Interestingly, that's when faith supports us the most. Yet I hear people blame God all the time for their troubles. Right.

So, God got up this morning, and out of all the billions of worlds and galaxies and planets that are His (or Her) responsibility, saw to it to ruin YOUR day? Make you fumble, or your kid didn't pass the math test, or you didn't get the promotion?

Frankly I think that whatever or whoever happens to be in charge of the Universe has a lot more on their mind than the outcome of the NFC Championships. God doesn't take sides, if in fact we are to believe that all Creation is loved equally. Therein lies the conundrum for requesting intervention against the other guys. I suspect God loves them, too. Nobody has a lock on God's love, not the Catholics or the Baptists or the Cult of the Almighty Alligator Clan. Like it or not. God isn't something we take out and wave around when it serves our purposes.

Let's be clear. I'm with Steven Pressfield (The War of Art, Do the Work, etc.) on this. When we do perform at an extremely high level, Something Else is moving through us. It's happened to me writing a book. Doing a speech. I know that feeling. That's not me- I don't get to own that performance. It's extremely humbling to watch yourself on video and wonder who was doing the talking. I get being thankful for that. That's transcendental.

But if we only thank God- or whomever we choose to worship - when things go our way, it's precisely like only calling Mom when we need money. It's fair-weather faith.

Faith is what sustains us when we are desperate.

"Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to conquer it." -Tagore

This is the writing of a passionately faithful man. Someone who understands his relationship with the Sacred.

The day an announcer puts the mike in the quarterback's face after a brutal loss and he offers his thanks to God for humbling him is the day I believe the guy is a true practitioner. What an example for our kids to follow.

Anything less than that and we are treating our relationship with the Sacred like an ATM machine.

Being thankful for all of life is what replenishes that ATM machine. That's the work that ensures that faith doesn't fail us.

God isn't in the game. God IS the game, full time. It's life, the law-conformable ups and downs that define who we are. Being thankful for all of it, whether we like the outcomes or not, is what faith is all about.