There are thousands of people beginning to go through football withdrawal this week.   Excluding the folks in the Northwest corner of our country, and perhaps most acutely felt in the "Mile-High City", football fans are beginning to feel the effects of 72 hours with no football.  Granted, there is a gradual easing away from the season as everyone talks about the results of the Superbowl, as surprisingly one-sided as it was.  People will continue to champion the value of a strong defense over a strong offense, and we may never hear the end of the debate over whether Peyton Manning displayed greatness or a post-season affinity for "choking" (remembering, of course, that in the midst of an incredible defeat he still set a Superbowl record for completed passes). 

I'm only holy half-joking about the withdrawal though.  Researchers have studied the end of sports seasons - particularly football season - and have learned that we do go through withdrawal from sports, just as we do from any other addiction.  The longer the season and the more heavily we're invested in it the harder it is.  This is why Denver folks are likely going to suffer the worst.  They had their hearts in it for so long, yet now that it's over they don't have the consolation of the Lombardi Trophy to carry them over until next season.  For being a mile high, they're no doubt feeling a mile low instead.

I'm not really that worried about Denver Broncos' fans; in the big scheme of things they'll be ok.  If Jesus were here, he'd probably say something like, "Blessed are those who lose the big game, for God likes both of the teams, regardless of the post-game interviews."  But, this whole thing continues the dialogue from this past Sunday's sermon around the beatitudes and the larger question of how and when and why we are blessed by God in the first place.  Some people probably believe that God intentionally "chose" the other team to favor.  (I just hope God didn't place any wagers on the line before the game - that would be unfair.)

There is a line in the movie adaptation of Cold Mountain where the main character, a Confederate soldier remarking on the war admits, "I imagine God is weary of being called down on both sides of an argument."  Wasn't it Paul who rhetorically asked the Romans, "If God is with us, who can be against us?" Paul didn't mean that God was with us in all the little things, however.  He didn't mean that we could extrapolate from his rhetoric that in response to any perceived success we could deduce that God was behind it.  Paul has in mind the long-term, big-picture work of God and God's redemption of the world - all the people of the world.  In the spiritual Superbowl of that first century it was the Israelites and everyone else.  And although the Israelites were God's chosen people, as Paul taught the Romans after his rhetorical question, "...not all Israelites belong to Israel, and not all of Abraham's children are his true descendants."  It's Paul's way of saying that all God's people are exceptional and blessed, even if they wear different jerseys.  If the game is Christ, they all win.

When we're not winning, it may feel like we're in blessing withdrawal.  Too often we look at people in the world in terms of winners and losers - and assume the winners are God's chosen.  Maybe our sibling won with the looks or the smarts.  Maybe our neighbor won with the larger house.  Maybe our coworker won with the promotion.  Maybe our spouse won...because they always win.  And yes, maybe that other, hated, rival team won the football game. But let's not say it's God's will that one side won or lost (especially don't say that to your spouse).  It's not often truly a case of winners and losers except on the sports field.  Regardless of our desire to name winners and losers and make God the field judge and scorekeeper, that's not a fair and appropriate way to look at things, or an appropriate role to assign God.  I think God is weary of such things.  Maybe we're addicted to interpreting God's favor.  Perhaps it's time to stop playing the games, and instead struggle through the spiritual withdrawal on our way to a deeper, fuller, life-giving understanding of God's love for us. 

Tom+

Lord God Almighty, for no merit on our part, you have brought us out of death into life, out of sorrow into joy: Put no end to your gifts, fulfill your marvelous acts in us, and grant to us who have been justified by faith the strength to persevere in that faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.   Amen.  (Collect for use in Easter, Lesser Feasts and Fasts)