Football and the Church

I am a Detroit Lions fan. If you pay attention to football at all you will know the Lions had an 0-19 record going into yesterdays game. At the end of the fourth quarter it seems the Lions would beat the Redskins 19-14. Lions Win! This is a big day for any Lions fan. As I was reading up on the NFL this morning, I clicked on the "what did we learn in week 3" link. There is a feature on the Lions win, yada yada but what I noticed were the comments people were leaving.

They said things like "I'm a thirty year Packer fan but nothing makes me happier (almost) than seeing the Lions win. Go Lions Go!", "Congrats Detroit faithful. From Baltimore", "Happy for Detroit here in Colorado" and "Congrats Detroit, and I'm not a "Lion". "

All over the country excitement for the Lions is expressed. It's kind of crazy but it does make me smile.

It also makes me wonder if the Church* couldn't take a lesson from football fans. What would it look like for the Church in Tennessee to route for the Church in Oregon. Or the Church in California hears something great about the Church in New York and says "way to go, way to be!" Not that the Church necessarily needs a cheerleader, but that we can all be excited about what God is doing across the country and not so consumed with just our Church (team). What if the Church actually noticed and encouraged each other?

The Church could use a lesson from NFL fans.

*Church--big C, not individual little "c" churches...not individual denominations but all the believers.