As far as the Steelers are concerned, the season is over. They lost to the Denver Broncos in overtime last Sunday. They will now have plenty of time for all of their injured players to heal before next year’s professional football season. The win for Denver highlighted the effective effort of Tim Tebow, the new quarterback for the Broncos, who has been followed around by the media because of what they call “Tebowing”, when Tim kneels in one knee and holds his hand to his head, apparently in prayer or thanksgiving to his Lord. It is somewhat amazing that this grabs space in the media. Do we all think that God cares who wins any football game or the super bowl? If so, what does it mean when Troy Polamalu crosses himself numerous times in a game, also in response to his faith? I suspect that we take this faith in athletics thing much too far. God certainly cares about what goes on in human concourse, but I would think that our athletic wins and losses are rather low on God’s list of priorities.
So, what are God’s priorities? It doesn’t take much perusal of scripture to discover that the poor and the outcast are first on God’s list. It is always the welfare of the neediest who God wants us to be responsive to. I have always loved the quiet faith of dedicated people who move into human need with vigor and do something about it. Sister Ligouri at the Jubilee Soup Kitchen in Pittsburgh followed her faith into the hunger of many Pittsburghers who were fed in that place day by day. She never trumpeted her accomplishments, although there were others who did. She preferred to sit in the background and allow her work to be seen in those who benefited from it.
I also remember a quiet nurse whom I met frequently in one of our hospital intensive care units who cared for and comforted her patients with a remarkable skill that eased their pain and helped them whether it was to recovery or into their death. She was also there for the families and friends of those who followed the patient into that ICU and who witnessed the results. It wasn’t often easy for her to do any of this. She had the help of her faith. I never asked either her or Sister Ligouri about their religion, or about their theology. I simply watched them act out their faith in the presence of great need.
This is the kind of faith that God celebrates in highest heaven. I know that the saints who have done these things are held in great regard by God, whether they hold themselves in any regard at all. I think also of the remarkable people who have gone to Kenya or to Haiti, or into Joplin, Missouri in the wake of famine, earthquakes or tornados that have made life nearly unbearable for many, many people and who have worked hard to bring resources to ease the suffering that they have found. The media follows these things too, but our attention fades quickly and we get on to other things.
When I think about what it is that God wants to say to all of us, the first words of Psalm 139 occur to me:
LORD, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O LORD, know it altogether.
You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
God is constantly watching all of us. God knows what we do and what we don’t do. I think that is the meaning of the story in John’s Gospel when Philip tells Nathaniel about Jesus:
Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "We have
found him about whom Moses in the law and also
the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth."
Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out
of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
Nathaniel comes to Jesus and Jesus says Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit! Nathaniel asks Jesus, when did you get to know me? Jesus tells him, I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you. Nathaniel then confesses: Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! Nathaniel recognizes the power of God to see us always in every moment and he knows that this power is present in Jesus.
This is what faith is all about. It is knowing that our God is present in every moment, whether we know it or not, and that what we do is always valued by God when it is in the furtherance of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. When we love each other, God is made known. That is what we need to be about.
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