I am beyond a Steeler fan, in fact. Like all true Steeler football fans, we are not just enthusiastic about our team, we are truly fanatical. We know when the draft is and we know who we are anticipating adding to the team. We know when training camp is, where it is and what days we can go and get pictures. Steeler fans will travel almost any distance to see a Steeler game, often showing up in Atlanta and Cincinnati and Tenessee and every where else the Steelers visit on the road, dressed in black and gold, carrying their Terrible Towels and fuzzy team logo blankets and settle in for a game as if they were in their own back yard.
I once visited Cincinnati to see a Steeler game and while our tickets were in the nosebleed section and surely should have been for Cincy fans, we were hardly the only black and gold fans in the stadium. At one point when the team was driving the ball down the field the crowd seemed to be singing in one voice that echoed around the stadium "here we go Steelers, here we go". We had with us a friend who is really more a Philadelphia fan that a Steeler Fan. He spent most of the game wondering if we would get beaten for wearing all that black and gold. Strangely enough no one messes with Steelers fans very often, unless of course it is another Steeler fan. I think it's something about the way large groups of them keep appearing, but it could be the zeal they project in competition.
They have had a fairly decent season, certainly some highs and lows but currently it is all glorious. Today they became the AFC champions and will go on to the Superbowl. This is such good news that I am certainly doing the happy dance and feeling so proud of my hometown. I had to leave the game about half time to go to a worship service for a Chrysalis weekend. I truly felt torn about where to be, at home cheering on my team, at church supporting our teens. So I compromised and I went to worship but I brought my cell phone and my wonderful family sent me text messages and kept me informed about what was happening.
I understand this is definitely cheating. I was not fully engaged in worship, I was very much distracted and my prayers were extremely focused on discussing my desire that the kids were having an amazing weekend as well as my team scoring a lot and winning the game. As we entered communion time I began to feel somewhat convicted and tried to focus on the service only my phone buzzed and I just really wanted to know what it said. It was probably several minutes after the game was over and we had won before I felt I could legitimately look and not feel guilt for being unfocused.
It has nothing to do with first loves. I am confident of this. I love God first and foremost and football is not in competition with God for time and priority in my life. I make it through the off season without too much withdrawal. I will admit to reading the hometown paper on line and follow what is happening with the team but not every day. I have missed some games because of other events and I have stopped going into mourning until Wednesday the weeks we don't win. I only wear black and gold during the games though I do drink out of my Steeler coffee mug year round. I am trying to manage the mania.
Tonight I might have failed. I wore my black and gold to worship, I confessed my sins of distraction during communion but I also interceded for my team. I did not check my phone during the prayer for the kids and the leadership but the minute we said amen I was on it. When we had won it was very hard not to interrupt worship to give thanks publicly. I would like a little credit. I was present after all. I greeted all of the kids with a hug and told them I was praying for them at the right moment. Perhaps not single minded focus, but partial credit for faithfulness.
Is God a Steeler fan? How could He not be?! I suspect God is a fan of all of His children and perhaps wishes we would take some of that passion and apply it to our relationship with Him. Where one day we might spontaneous erupt with 'here we go Jesus here we go'. I think God would be honored if one day at a Steeler game, I missed a play or two because I was checking my cellphone to see if worship touched someones heart and they came forward to make a public confession of faith. A real touch down with eternal implications.
I am not giving up my Steelers, and I am not going to feel less passionate about the game, but I do want to take some of that passion and carry it over to my walk with God. I want to truly yearn for time with Him, to be excited about His kingdom that never has an off season. God always wins that Superbowl, and if we just choose to play for the home team, so do we.
Not to say that I am biased but, it will be real nice if that same kind of victory could spill over in two weeks for my Steelers!
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