Trading Places

The National Hockey League trading deadline was very busy for goalie Jaroslav Halak. Players who are traded move from one team to another. In Halak's case, he was moved twice: once from the St. Louis Blues to the Buffalo Sabres, then, less than a week later, from the Sabres to the Washington Capitals.

Someone who thought about these trades in terms of their impact on Halak would have contemplated an emotional swing. Halak was moved from the Blues, a playoff team with a very good chance to contend for the Stanley Cup. It must have been disappointing to go to the Sabres, a team that was one of the bottom feeders in the 2013-2014 season. Disappointment would then have given way to a better hope, when Halak was traded to the Capitals, a team that has struggled this season to find its identity but might be poised to make a run after shoring up its goaltending.

Someone who thought about these trades in terms of their impact on the teams involved would have thought very differently about these trades. Each team orchestrated a trade in an effort to improve itself and better their chances for the future. The Blues believed that they needed to upgrade their goaltending in order to win, so they went after the one goalie (Ryan Miller, acquired from the Sabres) whom they believed would improve the team. 

The Sabres, in return, were focused on rebuilding their team and wanted to move an asset (Miller) at the right time, when they could extract the most for him from another team. In return for this trade, the Sabres received Halak, a forward, and a prospect. But they weren't finished. To continue upgrading the team for the future, the Sabres flipped Halak less a week later, without him even playing a game for them. They traded him to the Capitals in exchange for another goaltender and a young defenseman.

For the Capitals, acquiring Halak was meant to be the last piece of a puzzle designed to push them into a playoff run.

One player, three teams. Each team moved or received the same player in an effort to upgrade and improve their team. Halak's story is perhaps the most interesting of all the trade stories that happened at this year's trading deadline. There were many moving pieces as teams worked hard to improve before making that final rush to the playoffs. And yet, of all the teams involved in trades, including the three that were involved with Halak, there is only one team that can win the Stanely Cup at the end of the playoffs. The rest will fail to reach this goal.

At the end of the season, despite all the work, all the effort, all the maneuvering and all the attempts to improve, almost every team will fail to win the prize.

The letter to the Romans is a fascinating letter. In this letter, Paul writes to a church that is a blend of Jewish and Gentile believers. There is tension within this group. There is jealousy. There is competition. The Jewish believers thought the Gentiles were depraved johnny-come-latelys who had all the opportunity to know God but arrived late to the party. They were too corrupt to observe the law properly. Yet, the same Jewish believers, Paul said, were unnable to keep the law themselves, showing themselves to be corrupt when they judged others for not observing.

Both groups proved the rule Paul established: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Despite our own efforts to improve, to play by the rules, to observe the law, we find ourselves in the same position. God's glory is in front of us, but we are all sinners. We are enemies of God (Romans 3:23; 5:8, 10). We try to improve, we try to get better, but ultimately, like hockey teams maneuvering in the last hours of the trading deadline, only to come up short in the playoffs, we still fail.

Our attempts to improve our standing before God are futile. We are made right with God not because we earned it, played the hardest, or made the best move. We are made right with God through the gospel. We are justified by faith. As Paul wrote, "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (5:8). Later, he added, "while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (5:10).

God showed his love for us through the death of Jesus. We were reconciled to him by the death of Jesus. Our efforts to improve our lives before God are futile apart from his love that has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (5:5). 

God's gospel saves us and teaches us about God's love for us apart from our own ability to earn it. God loves us and saves us. Let us stand firm in that.

Jeremy Hoover is the minister at the Otisville Church of Christ in Otisville, Michigan. His website is at www.jeremyhoover.com. He is an avid sports fan who enjoys biographies about athletes and books by coaches. His favorite sports are hockey, where he roots for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and football, where he pulls for the New England Patriots.

Overcome Bullying with Good

As soon as you saw the word "Bullying" in the title you knew I was going to talk about the mess at the Miami Dolphins where Jonathan Martin has walked out on the team and accused Richie Incognito of bullying.

I really don't want to go into the details of this situation because its so messy I'm not sure that anyone really knows what went on. There've been many articles written on various facets of of this ugly mess:

• Racism - A Jason Whitlock article HERE and a Shannon Sharpe rant HERE.
• Violence - A report from NFL.com HERE.
• Immorality - "Compulsory" meetings at strip clubs HERE.
• A Destructive Locker Room Culture - Bringing in good influences. HERE
• Defining Masculinity - a good summary article HERE.

The point I want to focus on today is the widespread response to Martin's bullying claim that instead of walking out on the team, he should have "stood up" to Incognito and bunched him in the mouth. According to this article even the Dolphins General Manager, Jeff Ireland, thought Martin's best course of action was to punch Incognito!

Have you ever heard the advice that goes something like, "Bullies are really cowards. Stand up to them and they'll back down." So if Martin responds to abuse with violence that will stop the violence? I just finished writing a blog post on a separate issue here that included the thought, "Sin never heals itself". Likewise violence isn't solved by more or greater violence.

I'm not saying that walking out on the team was the right solution. Maybe there were other avenues of redress available. I do not that violent retaliation was definitely not the best solution, or even a solution at all.

I wonder if a Christian would handle this situation differently? God certainly gives us a few ideas to chew on in circumstances like this:

• Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. (Matt. 5:39)
• I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:44-45a)
• Do not repay anyone evil for evil. (Rom. 12:17a)
• Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom 12:21)

I wish I had "5 Easy Steps" for putting these teachings into practice. But this Martin - Incognito story demonstrates how difficult and complicated these situations are. There are so many times where it's incredibly difficult to decide the best specific path forward. Sometimes it means walking away from a situation and risking being misunderstood and called a coward. Sometimes it means reporting events to an authority and risking being called a snitch, and possibly losing some friends. Sometimes it means praying for evil people. Sometimes it means serving people we don't like.

Out of all the verses in Matt 5 and Romans 12 that relate to this issue, Romans 12:21 that most resonates with me. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Do you believe God, really, deep down in your heart, that good is able to overcome evil? 

Trash Talk

The first week of the NFL season is in the books. And the trash talk has begun. I guess it's a lot easier to talk trash early in the season. There aren't many scoreboards for people to point at.

2013 EXAMPLES:

• Seattle fans talking of buy bricks at the 49ers new stadium and inscribing them with phrases like "Go Hawks".
• 49ers player Dixon posts a tweet calling Seattle the "She-Hawks".
• Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, and some players accuse the NY Giants of faking injuries to give themselves a breather.
• Then the Giants' player in question responds with a crack about Jerry Jones having his son-in-law clean his glasses.
• All this talk about whether the Packers, and Clay Matthews in particular, are "targeting" Colin Kaepernick. Then in the game Matthews hits Kaepernick with a late tackle and the 49ers coach, Jim Harbough, describes it as a slap.
• Matthews responded in a media conference describing himself as "an awesome player... not dirty". I don't know if that last comment was Matthews just defending himself or if he was also taking a shot at division rival Ndamukong Suh who the NFL fined $100,000 this week for a late tackle.

and this is just after Week 1!!

Christians face some interesting decisions when it comes to sledging or trash talk. In many ways it's fun and part of the game. Players participate to gain a psychological edge over the opponents (ior just because they don't like them). Fans join in because it's one way that we can participate in the competition between teams. We're not on the field, but we can sure talk big. But sometimes this kind of talk is destructive and unGodly.

I taught a class last night on idolatry. I was basing my lesson on the first chapter of Mark Driscoll's book, "Who Do You Think You Are?" He uses an acronym for the word IDOLS. Without rehashing the entire lesson, his thoughts on O relate to this topic of trash talking.

O stands for the idea that sometimes we make idols out of our connection to Others. This is very evident in sports when our sense of self-worth often increases when our team wins. We take pride because the team I happened to randomly choose to follow happened to win this week, or this year. Therefore I am better than you.

Driscoll makes this statement,

"While it is good to have community, we often turn this good thing into a bad thing by basing our identity on and idolizing our tribes. If you idolize your tribe, you will also demonize other tribes.

This past weekend also marked the first week of finals (playoffs) in AFL (Australia). I'm very happy to report that "my team" (Carlton) won. Making it even better was that Carlton only made the finals (playoffs) because traditional rival Essendon was eliminated from the finals by the league for their "supplements scandal". Then making the weekend even better is that Collingwood, the other traditional major rival of Carlton, lost! It's just a nice feeling.

It's so easy to get caught up in the roles the football culture imposes upon fans and rub their defeats and disappointments in the faces of Collingwood and Essendon supporters.

But I am so thankful for the example of my grandfather. I truly believe he rescued me from a life of fanaticism. He was a Collingwood supporter, but he is also one of the gentlest men I've known.

One weekend after his team had beaten mine in a huge game with finals implications I was still running on adrenaline (yes, just from watching it on TV) and really expecting him to act like crazy fans on TV and gloat about their victory. Instead, he just commented that it was good game and he knew how disappointing it was to lose that one.

The grace he gave to me completely took the wind out of my sails. I'm not saying that I always match his example. I still like to gloat at times. I mean, I now live near Buffalo where the Bills always lose. If I waited for them to win to say something...!!

By all means Christians should enjoy the banter that comes with supporting a sports team, but lets keep it lighthearted. Let's "Love our neighbours as ourselves". And let's remember that "A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire."

Jason Collins is Gay in the NBA... and I'm not Angry!

29 April, 2013 is now a watershed date in US professional sports. It's the date that Jason Collins, an NBA player, wrote this article in Sports Illustrated informing the world that he is gay. It's certainly the biggest sports news of the moment because he's the first male professional athlete to acknowledge his homosexuality while still playing in the league.

I do respect Collins as a courageous person. His article was very articulate and short on propaganda. I've been around various sports clubs enough to know that the culture is not filled with sensitive new age guys. Sports value strength, toughness and in some ways have the goal of determining who's the alpha male. Effeminate behaviour is generally regarded as weakness and mocked. Bullying is commonplace within organized sports. So Collins is taking a risk.

As a Christian my understanding of Scripture is that homosexual relationships are sinful. (I previously blogged about homosexuality HERE and included a list of other resources and perspectives at the end of that article.) But I recognise that that simple statement belies the numerous complexities that any discussion of homosexuality must address.

It disappoints me whenever I see sin normalized, accepted and defended in our society. It's impossible for me to list all the articles on the various sports websites and newspapers praising Collins for coming out of the closet. (Also a friend has addressed this subject HERE.) Collins even received a phone call from the President of the US!

I'm disappointed, but I'm not angry. I'm certainly not angry at Collins. In American and Western society today gay men and women publicly live and work in every walk of life. I don't have to endorse or promote their sexual choices, but I believe that Christians do need to accept this reality. We live in a society where homosexuality is a socially acceptable lifestyle. Collins himself wrote in the initial SI article that he was grateful he was doing this in 2013, not 2003. Times have changed.

Gay women have been part of their professional sports landscape for years. In tennis Martina Navratilova came out of the closet in 1981. Regarding women's golf, this article in the UK paper The Observer states that "over its 50-year history, the LPGA has always been associated with gay women, far more than any other sport."And just a couple of weeks ago, Brittney Griner, the Baylor college star and #1 draft pick in this years WNBA draft publicly announced she was gay. It barely raised an eyebrow.

So why would I get angry at Collins?

• Because he finds himself attracted to men?
• Because he made his feelings public?
• Because he plays in the NBA?
• Because only female athletes can be gay?
• Because there should be a rule that gay men can't play professional sports?

 I can't criticise Collins for any of those things.

Because I believe homosexual relationships are sinful it disappoints and frustrates me that the revelation of a sin is greeted with so much celebration. On the one hand I am glad that he has not been rejected as a person. (Even his former fiancee spoke out in support of him.) On the other hand I regret that many will see his acceptance as endorsement.

It's not as though the endorsement of sexual sins in the NBA is anything new. For years Christians have followed and admired the careers of numerous players who boast of their sexual exploits. In 2010 Winston Bennett claimed to have had sex with 90 women a month. In his 1991 book Wilt Chamberlain claimed to have had sex with 20,000 different women! Magic Johnson is another NBA star open about his promiscuous lifestyle and the HIV he contracted as a result. Andrei Kirilenko's wife even gave him approval to have one fling on the road per year!

So I'm not going to get angry at Jason Collins. I continue to watch the NBA. I admire these guys as athletes with incredible basketball skills. But I don't look to them as role models in life. The Bible has numerous lists of sins that include sexual immorality, fornication, and adultery.

The fact that a new sin has now been publicly added to the NBA list is sad, but I have enough struggles in my own life that I long ago ran out of energy needed to get angry at other people's sins. I strongly believe that Christians need to warn each other and our youth about the dangers and allure of sin. We need to present a clear message regarding holiness and our relationship with God. We need to communicate clearly that sin has consequences. We need to emphasise that God defines marriage as a covenant between men and women.

We also need to share the message that Jesus called Christians to love our neighbours even while we call them away from sin: theft, violence, sexual immorality, etc. If our emotions at learning of a sin prevent us from sharing God's love with the sinner then we first need to examine our own heart and relationship with God.