I am a football fan, let’s get that out-of-the-way up front. I am not a Packer or Seahawk fan, however.

As everyone in America must know by now, the National Football League has begun this season with replacement refs while their labor negotiations with the regular refs drags on.  It seems that all people can talk about is the lousy replacement refs, and after the Monday night game in which the Seahawks won on a controversial play in the final seconds, even the President of the United States has weighed in on the issue.

As I type this on Wednesday morning, people on the radio are raising cain about the NFL and the replacement refs…

A few things strike me in all of this:

1. There are an awful lot of football fans.

2. The NFL is getting really bad publicity on this one.

3. Nobody is happy with the situation.

4. The commissioner of the NFL is loosing credibility by the minute.

5. Emotions are getting the better of a lot of people.

6. Football is just a game for crying out loud!

Now, a question comes to mind:

Are we as passionate about our faith as we are about the NFL?

I hope so, but I wonder…

If you aren’t a football fan, you probably can’t see what the commotion is all about: Fair enough.  If you are a fan as I am, the commotion is understandable, but is it really such a big deal?  Could we live without the NFL if we had to?  Would we react with as much passion if the church were under attack?

OK, maybe so; let’s try a different question: Would we respond with as much passion if the church was being compromised? Would we react with as much passion if the church were being minimized or marginalized?

I highly doubt it, at least for the majority.  The church is being compromised in many places, and minimized and marginalized all over the place and there isn’t much of a response from most Christians.

How is the church portrayed in movies, TV shows and the press?  How is it treated by politicians?  Have you heard what the president said in the UN Tuesday; does he show that much angst when Jesus is made fun of?  These are examples of minimized and marginalized.  Compromised?  This is what goes on when we water-down our message to be “politically correct” and what happens when we just don’t grow because we always want to take the easy way out in our congregations.

So: Where’s the passion about things that are actually important?