Miracles News

April-June, 2014

The One About Football

by Rev. Stephan Mead, O.M.C.

Rev. Stephan Mead Something wonderful has been happening in Seattle. Beginning last August, The Seattle Seahawks football team won their four preseason games, and the thought, “Is this our year for the super bowl?” was given birth. In the next seventeen weeks, the Seahawks won practically every game, earned home field advantage throughout the playoffs and as I write this, are just four days away from the biggest sporting event possibly in the world.

What has been happening in Seattle as a direct result of our sports team? An awakened sense of “oneness” shared by several million North westerners! From the sidewalks in front of the local ma-pa stores to the grand office buildings downtown, from the radio and TV stations, all talk is about the Seahawks. We, as a region, have a shared goal. The anonymity and seemingly separate lives of the community have been set aside for a whole new dynamic of friendliness, excitement, brotherly love and care for each other. Currently, there are no strangers in Seattle!

I think our very guarded belief in separateness has been suspended. A great number of people have changed their minds about how to properly and safely relate to each other in the course of a normal day. Happiness and shared joy are so prevalent everywhere, even the national news programs are reporting it. Is this new vibration really because of football, or was football a catalyst that awakened a desire to share joy? And, as A Course in Miracles assures us, as joy is shared, joy increases. Isn’t “joy” a synonym for God?

Collectively, do we believe that winning the super bowl will bring us peace? The answer is “yes.” Remember, this feeling of unity, of oneness is so compelling, people are getting permanent tattoo’s of the Seahawk logo on their bodies! (And that is making national news too!)

Have you ever finished reading a section of the Course and found yourself wondering why others don’t “get” the oneness and certainty of the Truth? I know I have. Probably I should be wondering why I don’t “get” it! We are promised many times in the Course that the Holy Spirit can use anything to help lead us out of the dream of separateness. Even a sports team? Apparently so. Perhaps the awakened state of oneness is the purpose of sports teams, as we seem to use them as a vehicle to experience God. (Although most of us won’t use that “GOD” word, we say “fun” and “joy” and “perfection” instead, but our Soul knows what is really going on.)

Where is the ego in this story of collective experience of oneness? Not to worry, it’s still here working its magic. Ego always attempts to keep the truth hidden, and in this story, ego constantly reminds us that the other team has to lose for us to stay happy. It is actually a pretty good trick, because it obscures our experience that we have already won and the game hasn’t even been played yet!

On a spiritual level, does it really matter whether the Seattle Seahawks or the Denver Bronco’s win the super bowl? Hell yes it matters! Go Seahawks!

Rev. Stephan Mead, O.M.C., is a Pathways of Light minister living in Seattle, Washington.

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