Football season is underway. For most high school and college teams, the highlight of the football season is the rivalry game. These games usually involve opponents who are geographically close and whose students and graduates have friends, family, and acquaintances affiliated with the rival school. Most of us encounter rivals at some point in our lives. Rivalries can get ugly and bring out the worst in people, but they also have the potential to build up people. The Bible gives us plenty of accounts of rivalries—some that tear apart families and nations and others that are mutually beneficial. LinC looks at ways that we can honor God and one another in our rivalries. Key Scriptures: Genesis 45:1-7; Exodus 12:31-32; 1 Samuel 18:5-9; 2 Samuel 18:1-21, 31-33. Haralson County High School in western Georgia recently ended its longstanding tradition of holding a prayer before high school football games in response to pressure from an outside group that believed the tradition violated the First Amendment clause dealing with the establishment of religion. Those at the school who support the tradition have continued gathering to pray before the game, even though the prayers are no longer organized or sanctioned by the school. This Wednesday is the annual See You at the Pole event, in which Christian youth gather before school at their school’s flagpoles for a time of prayer. With these examples of public prayer in mind, next week we’ll talk about prayer. We’ll look at why we pray, how we pray, when we pray, and what we pray for.
