With hockey season resuming, and the Triad being home to a team once again, I return to service as a volunteer chaplain this year with the Twin City Cyclones. My ministry to the team is under the umbrella of Hockey Ministries International. I will be conducting chapel services for interested players once a month, and providing services as needed and requested at other times. Yesterday, I went over to meet the players after practice, and was received well by them all.
Tomorrow night is opening night for the Cyclones. I will be speaking to the players prior to the game and offering prayer for them before they take the ice. So, what do you say in a time like that? Well, I won't be telling them that God wants them to win or praying for an on-ice victory. Neither do I want there to be a superstitious perspective on my presence and the prayer we offer. If you are a pro sports fan, you know that players develop superstitions about many things -- baseball players don't step on the baseline as they come on and off the diamond; some players have a "lucky shirt" that they don't wash all season, etc. The last thing I want these players to think is that our pre-game prayer is an amulet for success, or an omen of doom. So what will I say?
Something to this effect:
God, and prayer to God, is not a means to our own ends, but rather He is the greatest end of all our means. Our entire life is about pursuing Him. So my presence in the room with the team, and the prayer we lift up is not a good luck charm. God loves the other team as much as He loves us. Rather, my purpose here before the game is to remind you that you were made by God for a purpose, and that purpose is to glorify God with your lives. First Corinthians 10:31, "... whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Colossians 3:17, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." Colossians 3:23, "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men." Because whether you win or lose, God is working in your life to bring you into a deeper knowledge of Himself and to shape your character for His purposes. In the film "Chariots of Fire," Eric Liddel is depicted as saying, "I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." So our prayer before the game is that each player will glorify God by giving his best effort on the ice. We pray that each will play with honor and sportsmanship, that each will play to the best of his ability, that the players will be kept safe from injury, and that God would be glorified in all our lives, including the time spent on the ice in this game.
For an interesting look at God and Sports, see Slate Magazine's post today entitled "Are the Colorado Rockies Blessed? Examining God's Effect on the Baseball Diamond" by
2 comments:
Once while channel surfing I stopped on a soccer match and saw a guy score a goooooaaaaaalllllll directly after which he made a motion that made it obvious that he was thanking God. I must admit that I though, “Please, you kicked a ball into a net, big deal!” But a still small voice made me realize that the guy was expressing divine thanks and that he was enjoying a life in which he was particularly gifted by God in the realm of athleticism. Rather humbling I must say. I must however, disagree with you on one point: I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world, and dad to the three greatest kids! :o)
On that final point, we'll have to agree to disagree!
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