That We All May Be One

                           The Bowl Games as a Spiritual Discipline

I wrote yesterday that I intend to address not only politics and religion in this re-newed blog “That We All May Be One: Reflections on Unity,” but literature, music and the arts, even sports when such things may advance the cause of the unity we seek. So, here goes:

A few days ago, realizing that my beloved Iowa Hawkeyes were to face the Stanford Cardinals in the Rose Bowl, I e-mailed a former seminary professor who had concluded his illustrious career as a professor at Stanford:

“OK, Iowa Hawkeyes versus Stanford Cardinals! A gentleman’s wager?”

He responded almost immediately, “$10. We’ll work on becoming gentlemen later. Happy 2016.”

So, some 24 hours later, after Stanford crushed Iowa 45-16, I wrote,

“My tear-stained ten-spot will be in the mail to you as soon as I can get an address. Sorry we collapsed and didn’t give you guys a real game. I remain, Your humble(d) servant, Chris  P.S. Hey, Susanne and I will be in San Francisco the week of April 10. Are you two close enough that we could take you out to dinner?”

And his gracious reply, “Elation around here of course, but the game was really hard for your guys, who – defying all odds in big time USA sports – handled themselves with dignity to the end! That, too, is a victory! And yes, let’s do have a meal during that week in April. That would be a grand reunion!”

That We All May Be One? Reflections on Unity?

Yep, even during the humiliation of losing “the Granddaddy of all Bowl Games.”

Alleluia!

This entry was posted on January 2, 2016 at 4:11 pm and is filed under Blogroll, Church Life, Ecumenical, Emergent Church, Interfaith, Justice and Peace, Politics, Religion, Scripture, The Episcopal Church, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.