Football History, Church Future

I love fall. Crisp, blustery winds, pumpkin-flavored everything, and college football! I love the spirited energy that team colors, marching bands, and bigheaded mascot costumes can create. I love the feats of athleticism that seems almost super human. I love the rivalries, the traditions, and the underdog upsets. Legendary high school coach, Harold Jones, said it best, “I love Friday night when you’re looking for a win, and Saturday when you found one!”

And to think that back in 1897, just when organized collegiate football was still in its infancy. It almost came to a screeching halt.

On October 30^th, the University of Georgia played the University of Virginia. Early in the second half, Richard Gammon, an 18-year-old fullback was injured during a tackle. Gammon died the following day on October 31, due to a severe head injury. Both teams were devastated. The state of Georgia was in upheaval. Immediately, a billed passed the Georgia Senate banning the sport of football in the entire state. The only thing needed to convert the bill into law was the signature of the Governor. That’s when something truly unimaginable happened. Gammon’s mother, grief-stricken, decided to write a letter to her representative. In her letter Rosalind Gammon requested that her son’s death “not be used for an argument detrimental to the athletic cause and its advancement at the University.”

As a parent, it’s unfathomable to me that just three weeks after losing her son, Rosalind Gammon wrote, “Grant me the right to request that my boy's death should not be used to defeat the most cherished object of his life.”

Can you imagine the love and respect for her son it must have taken to write those words?

“Please do not let his name be used to destroy what he loved.”

I don’t know a lot about football, and I know even less about the Bible, but I know that God loves me, because he willingly & willfully gave His son to save me. I know the nearest and dearest things to God’s heart are not His laws, they are His people. Laws are to teach, guide and protect. It is the “how”.  Love is the “why”. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I have considered myself a “Christian” for several years now. But how many times have used my Christianity to validate cause to judge someone, to withhold acceptance, to guard a standard that Christ himself never set.

In the moments where my Christian views might even be legitimate, my criticism might be warranted; I wonder how many times Christ has said, “Please do not let my name be used to destroy what I love.”

I am proud to be a part of a church that reaches out to the un-churched. This doesn’t make church easy. More times than not, “Biblical truth” and “Christ-like grace” appear to be opposing viewpoints. Yet Christ embodied them both.

You might have guessed this already, but upon reading the letter from Gammon’s mother, the Governor of the State of Georgia vetoed the bill banning football.

And out of love and respect for Christ’s sacrifice, as Christians, we are obligated to do the same. We can’t hold onto policies and forget to give grace. We can’t represent Christ and repel the un-churched.

We cannot let His name be used to destroy who He loves.