Good morning, I'm
the Rev Steve Page from St Patrick's Anglican Church, and you're
listening to the Daily Devotional moment, sponsored by the Hudson Bay
Ministerial.
This month, I'm
drawing our images of Christian faith and spirituality from the
wonderful and sometimes weird world of Sports. With the Super Bowl
just around the corner, let's talk football today.
Going through an
entire football season without a single loss or tie is a very
challenging task. If a team does win every single game they play,
it's called a Perfect Season.
The closest anyone
has come in Canadian football is 1948, when the Calgary Stampeders
were a perfect 12-0 during the regular season, and had 2 wins and a
tie in the playoffs to finish with 14 wins, no losses, and 1 tie. How
did they get a tie in the playoffs, you ask? Back then, the
divisional finals were a 2-game home-and-home series, with the team
scoring the most total points advancing to the Grey Cup. Calgary tied
the Saskatchewan Roughriders
4 - 4 in the first game, then returned home and dominated the second
game to advance to the Cup, where they beat the Ottawa Rough Riders
12-7.
The NFL had a
recent almost-perfect season, when the New England Patriots in 2007
won all 16 regular season games and the first 2 playoff games, before
losing to the New York Giants in a thriller of a Super Bowl.
But there has been
one perfect, no-loss, no-tie season in the NFL. The 1972 Miami
Dolphins went 14-0 in the regular season, and their first 2 playoff
games to advance to the Super Bowl. There, they met the Washington
Redskins. A Miami win would give them the perfect season.
Both teams had
powerful defences, who made the day miserable for the offensive
players. Miami only managed 12 first downs, and Washington barely
topped 200 total yards. In fact, that game is the lowest-scoring
Super Bowl ever. But behind their 3-headed rushing machine of Larry
Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris, the Miami Dolphins did enough
to hold a 14-0 lead late in the game.
Perfection was in
reach! With just over 2 minutes to play, they lined up for a 42-yard
field goal that would ice the game. But a Washington player got a
hand on it and blocked the kick! Miami kicker Garo Yepremian got to
the loose ball first, but instead of just falling on it, he grabbed
the ball and tried to pass to another Miami player. Unfortunately,
the ball slipped comically out of his hand, almost straight up in the
air.
Redskins player
Mike Bass caught it and ran 49 yards into the end zone for the
touchdown! So the score was now Miami 14 Washington 7. After the
kickoff, their defence forced Miami to punt. Washington got the ball
back at their 36 yard line with 1:14 to play. If they could get into
the end zone and score, Miami's perfect season would be in trouble.
Fortunately for
the Dolphins and their fans, their defence held fast, and when the
clock hit 0, Miami had the Super Bowl victory and the only perfect
season in NFL history!
You know, in the
Gospel of Matthew (5:48), Jesus ends a list of very challenging
instructions on how we are meant to live by saying, “Be perfect, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.” Gee, no pressure! How are you
doing at being perfect?
Jesus is giving a
variation on the words God spoke in Leviticus (19:2) “Be holy
because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” And the apostle Paul picks
up on this theme, too, when he writes in one of his letters (Eph
5:1,2) “Follow God's example, ... walk in the way of love, just as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” God, Jesus, Paul, they
all urge us to be careful how we live, making Christ our pattern for
living.
My prayer for you
is that every day brings you another step closer to perfection, that
each day you will grow closer to God, will experience God's awesome
love and grace, and will come to look more and more like our Holy and
Perfect God in all you say and do.
For St Patrick's
Church, I'm Steve Page.
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