In this E-pistle:

Congratulations from our Partners
A Gracious Win
World Wide Worries?
The Learning Church

Pastor Ronilton of our sister church in Brazil sends this message to all of us at Park: “Congratulations to the Steelers, the new Super Bowl Champions. I imagine that all of you are very happy and proud of your team. This really is a great victory — all about the national title! It’s very important. I am happy for you!”

Of course, not everyone is happy. I have received two forwards from friends asking that all Steelers fans go to the ESPN online poll and vote that the Steelers won Sunday’s game fair and square. The email alerts us to a sinister conspiracy that only you and I can stop: “The West Coast is stuffing the ballot box on the ESPN poll for rating the Super Bowl officials. The “CRY BABIES” are trying to cheapen our win by blaming the officials instead of all their dropped passes, poor 3rd down conversions, giving up our 2 BIG TD plays etc, etc….”

The email gives the ESPN poll link and urges all of us to do some ballot box stuffing of our own, which I have done, and here’s the link if you’d like to:

Of course, the fact of the matter is that we won an ugly game and maybe got a break or two from the officials. But football is not a game of “what ifs.” The Steelers won the way teams win — you play 60 minutes and one of the two has somehow put more points on the board than the other. And on Sunday that included a great Willie Parker Run, a brilliant Roethlisberger pass on a broken play, and a spectacular Antwann Randle El to Hines Ward pass off a reverse. The right team won.

Our lives are not a matter of “what if,” either. In life there are no guarantees of a win, however. In fact, our Reformed theology teaches us that none of us is capable of scoring enough points to win the game. Even when we run a Willy Parker run, pass a Ben Roethlisberger pass, or make a Randle El to Hines connection, it’s still not enough. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul tells the Romans.

We need a little help from the referee. And, if you’ll pardon a flawed analogy, the referee has already sent in his own son from the bench and he has scored the winning touchdown for us. So, to paraphrase Hebrews 12 just a touch, “let us play with perseverance the game that his set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”

Did it take a little official grace to win the Super Bowl?pWe’ll never know. Does it take grace to finish the race that is set before us? Absolutely. Thanks be to God.

Just a reminder of the special after-worship seminar, World Wide Worries?, 12:15-1:00 in the Worship/Learning center. Becky Teague will lead the session which is designed for parents and grandparents who are concerned about their kids safety and security and ANY internet user who’d like to know more about ways to make their browsing safer and more secure. Additional topics will be covered in future editions of this series of occasional seminars.

Finally, See you Sunday. At 9:30. The learning church gathers in our first hour together with classes for all ages. Again, I can’t recommend too highly the Hebrews study lead by Jack Walker and Doris Thompson and “Rx for Overload” taught by Becky Teague with Ann Linkimer providing valuable input again this week. And plan now to be a part of one of our 10 Days ’til Easter small group studies beginning the week of March 5.