Insight from Outside the Superbowl

In case you didn’t know it yet, as a native Philadelphian I am a big Eagles fan. A good friend, a very good friend, of mine gifted me two tickets to see the Eagles in the Superbowl this year and I took my son Nate with me to the game in New Orleans. We were so excited for the game we wanted to get inside the gates as soon as they opened - even though it was four hours before the game. Our excitement was so great that we arrived even an hour before that. Like I said, we were excited.

Outside the gates, there were “preachers” yelling at the crowds on a microphone. They were reminding the people that one of the team’s fans would have spent thousands of dollars to see their team lose (they seemed to delight in that). They were yelling at all the fans and saying that sports was their god and that soon the season would be over. They held signs that said God hates homosexuals, hates adulterers, and that judgment was coming.

Both Nate and I were getting upset at how these guys were representing the Lord. They represented God as a vengeful God of hate, not the God of love. After a bit, my son Nate got so tired of it that he went over to speak to the one of the guys (despite my protestations). I let him go, thinking it would be a brief conversation. However, after about 5 minutes I got nervous and walked over to see what was happening.

The “preacher” said something to the effect, “Your father has taught you all this error.” (Nate had told the fundamentalists he was Catholic) Then he asked me if I believed Mary was the queen of heaven, and I said yes. And I knew at this point that this guy really wasn’t going to listen to us now, even if I did have Scripture to refute his points. So I told Nate, “Let’s go into the game.”

And we so we left and went into the game where we waited impatiently for four hours for the game to start.

The next morning when Nate and I were driving back to the airport I shared with him some thoughts about the experience.

First, I told him that I was proud of him for going over and talking to them. I was proud that it bothered him how much they were misrepresenting the Lord and his love.

Second, I told him that if he is ever arguing with an angry fundamentalist preacher again at the Superbowl and wants to persuade him, not to lead out that he is a Catholic. They will dismiss you right away.

Third, I referenced some verses from Romans that I had sent him in a text earlier that morning. Coincidentally I read Romans chapter two where Paul warns against judging others. (Funny how those coincidences happen) Then in Romans 2:4 he says, “Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

It’s not like those guys were wrong about our need to repent. No Christian would ever say we don’t need to repent and turn from sin. Their methods were wrong.

God might allow us to suffer the consequences of our sin so we will turn to him, but he is always showing us kindness. His kindness and goodness are intended to lead us to repent and follow him:

• Jesus was kind to the woman caught in adultery by rescuing her from her persecutors.
• He was kind to Zacchaeus by going up to him in the tree and setting up an appointment to dine with him.
• He was kind to Matthew and called him to follow him.

God uses kindness to change our hearts.

Fourth, the presence of these "bad news" preachers reminds that we have to double our efforts as a church to help people see the good news of the Gospel. If all I knew about Christianity was what I had heard from those street preachers, I wouldn’t want anything to do with the Church either. We can’t stop those street preachers from misrepresenting Jesus. However, knowing they are out there helps us to understand why some people don’t go to Church.

Some people carry the baggage and the misinformation from those messages. So that’s why we work to build up hospitality ministries and create layers of welcome. It's why we have parking ministers and greeters at the door and host ministers in the building. It is why encourage our hospitality ministers to smile and say, “Welcome, we are glad you are here.”

Along with the presence of hospitality, it is why we need to communicate from the pulpit we love welcoming people to Church who have never been to church or haven’t been in a long time. It's why homilies must focus on God’s great love for us and that Jesus wants something for us and not from us. It’s why we can from time to time tell people from the altar, “We love you and will see you back here next week.”

Let’s do our best to represent the love of the Father in our hospitality and communication. Let’s remind people that the Gospel is really good news.

Rooting for you,
Tom