Lord or Mascot
A friend in Texas wondered aloud on Facebook why his community could fund a multi-million dollar high school football stadium but couldn’t come up with enough money for special education students.
The reactions were technical (bonds versus annual funding) and spiritual (Texas’ football-olatry). In response to a comment my friend said, “Sometimes we need to decide whether Jesus is our Lord or our mascot.”
Jesus is Lord. In the Bible this is as much a political statement as it is a religious statement.
If Jesus is Lord, it means I take my ultimate orders from the God I meet in Jesus (and no one else). It means the way Jesus does things is the final authority for how I do them.
This is often hard, for individuals and for communities.
I’m from Texas. There are three major universities connected overtly to Jesus – TCU, SMU, and Baylor. Baylor is the most religiously-connected.
Here’s the beginning of the Baylor mission statement: The mission of Baylor University is to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.
But what Baylor was most famous for in 2016 was a violent tragedy in which the university covered-up rape allegations (at least 17) against football players (as least 19). The Baylor community must still be wondering, “Is Jesus our Lord or our mascot? How will we change to show Jesus is Lord?"
Jesus is Lord. That’s also a big part of what we call the Christmas Story. The wisemen come to see the newborn king. Herod tries to have Jesus killed because Jesus might be a king opposing Herod’s rule.
If you’re Christian, is Jesus your Lord or a mascot? If he’s Lord, what’s one thing you can do differently to show others this is the case?
The reactions were technical (bonds versus annual funding) and spiritual (Texas’ football-olatry). In response to a comment my friend said, “Sometimes we need to decide whether Jesus is our Lord or our mascot.”
Jesus is Lord. In the Bible this is as much a political statement as it is a religious statement.
If Jesus is Lord, it means I take my ultimate orders from the God I meet in Jesus (and no one else). It means the way Jesus does things is the final authority for how I do them.
This is often hard, for individuals and for communities.
I’m from Texas. There are three major universities connected overtly to Jesus – TCU, SMU, and Baylor. Baylor is the most religiously-connected.
Here’s the beginning of the Baylor mission statement: The mission of Baylor University is to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community.
But what Baylor was most famous for in 2016 was a violent tragedy in which the university covered-up rape allegations (at least 17) against football players (as least 19). The Baylor community must still be wondering, “Is Jesus our Lord or our mascot? How will we change to show Jesus is Lord?"
Jesus is Lord. That’s also a big part of what we call the Christmas Story. The wisemen come to see the newborn king. Herod tries to have Jesus killed because Jesus might be a king opposing Herod’s rule.
If you’re Christian, is Jesus your Lord or a mascot? If he’s Lord, what’s one thing you can do differently to show others this is the case?