Dear Pastor

*Editors note: you may not appreciate this if you do not keep up with sports news, so just in case some of our congregation are not sports fans, Lane Kiffin is leaving the University of Tennessee after one season to coach at University of Southern California. This is not unusual in today’s sporting news so here are some thoughts concerning this trend…

Dear Pastor,

Do you sing “Rocky Top” in your Sunday services? How about “Glory to Ole Georgia” or “Orange and Blue”? I am just curious where your loyalties lie. How much did it cost the congregation to get you here? Did you arrive highly acclaimed because of your outgoing personality, recruiting skills, ability to organize a professional and excellent ministry center, and your promise to work hard for the team? Oh, I’m sorry I am confused about who I am writing to. You must understand my confusion though I just received my 2010-11 season tickets and the picture of the coach on the ticket is not going to be the coach on the sideline this year. He apparently loves his alma mater or an old school he used to coach also, or is that himself he loves? By the way that is why I am writing.

I feel betrayed. I heard there was quite a raucous in the meeting room when our beloved coach and answer to all our orange and white woes met with the players to announce his leaving for the crimson and gold, coliseum, and the sandy beaches. If I was there the raucous might have gotten out of hand or I might have claimed a piece of his golden hair in my hand. I am sorry for this rant and my anger, but that is why I am writing. I feel betrayed. He promised us the SEC and the world which we did not care about as much as the SEC, and after one year he has left his multi-year contract in shreds, us with a measly $800,000, and an orange and white tour bus that I guess we can get something for on ebay. I guess it’s my fault that he’s leaving. We probably did not appreciate him enough after his first phenomenal season of 7-6 and the rampant violations he and his players committed on and off the field. Is there a support group for this kind of thing in the church?

But you know this has got me thinking. What about you? Are you a man of integrity? Why do you do what you do? Do you love the Lord and us as your neighbors or do you preach, teach and shepherd because you get paid and you get to live in such a sexy city? Are you committed to being here with us and our own set of peculiarities’? Or, do you have your eye on another congregation and you are just waiting for their present pastor to leave for greener pastures so that you can join yourself to those peculiar people? I am sorry to go on so, but this whole thing with our team has got me to thinking about myself, other people, their integrity and loyalty. It is not that you are my God in whom I trust, but you are called to serve him for his glory as you serve his church, and I’m just wondering if you are going to serve yourself or Him? I guess these are the kinds of questions people who have been betrayed tend to ask. It seems that our Lord came not to do his own will but the will of him who sent him. And he came not be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. This is why I trust in Him who is my Savior and Lord and I am just praying that those who preach his gospel will reflect his glory with loving faithful service toward his church, not for what they can get out of it, but for what He get’s out of it in being praised for his glorious grace. By the way if we don’t sing “Rocky Top” this Sunday, that’s okay, maybe “Amazing Grace” will be more fitting.

Sincerely,

The Betrayed