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| Super Bowl Sunday 21C |
Each year we enter Lent contemplating Christ's self-denial, self-sacrifice and selflessness.
Do we ever really think closely about our Western Christian life? ACrossMission.org has been trying to raise money for ministry among a drought ridden people. I preached "Superbowl Sunday." I begged for support. At the end of the service people politely wished me well, but offered very little as they rushed home for the big day.
Some fun facts:
- The face value of Super Bowl 50 tickets: $850 to $1,800 US. You didn't have a ticket - no worries - scalpers would supply an average ticket for only $5,020 (#SeatGeek)
- #CBS 30-second ads were sold for $5 million US.
- #TheSuperBowl will generate over $620 million US in revenue.
- #LegalBets on the game's outcome were expected to exceed $5 billion US - and illegal bets make up over 96% of bets cast. So how much was bet last #Sunday, #Sabbath, #TheLordsDay? Something north of $120 billion.
- #Budweiser sold an estimated 371.6 million cases of #Bud and #BudLight in 2015 - a bunch it (if he is to be believed) to #PeytonManning (after he hugged his wife and kids) following the #Broncos big win.
Context is important to us - our thinking must be relevant and real. So here it is:
- With 10 million people displaced by drought right now in Ethiopia, the international community hopes to raise $100 million for relief: that is twenty 30 second ads; 1/6th of Super Bowl revenues or about .1% of game day bets.
- The #UnitedNations hopes to ship 50 million cases of water to Ethiopia for drought relief (1/6th of Bud sales last year? - really?).
- President Obama (#POTUS) requested 69 billion for the USA national education budget in 2015 or just over half what was bet on Sunday's game.
- A Pastor's family in rural Sub-Saharan East Africa lives on half the United nations $1/day poverty line income. This means that if he saves everything he earns for 5 years he could buy one ticket to the big game.
So ya I've been called a Debbie-downer, a kill-Joy, a party-killer and a depressing SOB! Don't kick the delivery man! The facts are the facts; that they are what they are don't blame me! That they reflect who we are is not my fault. Ignorance is bliss and we've been too blissful too long.
This Lent I pray we will intentionally take a walk into the wilderness with Jesus. For 40 days let us really look hard at what I do for "me and mine" and ask our self "would I do the same for them and theirs" - do I even come close to doing as much for "them" as I do for "me"? Do I love them as I love myself? Here is the thing: if we change they way we think the state of the world will change. We are called to have Christ's mind selfless set.
What does that look like? Well for one thing if we loved starving Ethiopians more than ourselves and diverted our Super Bowl bets to the drought relief effort it would be funded 1,200 times over. If we diverted our bets we could by everyone on the planet with lots leftover to feed the Christian pastors starving to carry the Gospel into a world starving for truth.
We are called to bear witness to the teaching, deeds and commands of Jesus. We are commanded to love each other as ourselves. Not sure we are doing very well.
So am I calling for an end to fun? Certainly not. I am saying lets ALL have fun TOGETHER. It is awesome to love and to be loved.
There are two boys in this picture who lost their dads - if Love wins they can help and comfort each other. Can you see that!!?? Help us bring glory to God.
So am I calling for an end to fun? Certainly not. I am saying lets ALL have fun TOGETHER. It is awesome to love and to be loved.
There are two boys in this picture who lost their dads - if Love wins they can help and comfort each other. Can you see that!!?? Help us bring glory to God.
