Mutual Respect

Mutual Respect

By the time you read this, Super Bowl XLIV (44) will be over.  Most everyone in Indiana or Louisiana will be very happy.  Their team, the Colts or the Saints, will be crowned the best in the NFL.  I don’t have a favorite in the game, since our Patriots got eliminated awhile back.  But I really don’t want to write about football, I want to write about the commercials shown during the game, which, by the way, is the most watched TV event of the year—90 million, plus—about a third of the entire nation.

It does seem odd that Super Bowl commercials have become so important, but they do cost between 2.5 and 2.8 million dollars to air, to say nothing about how much they cost to produce.

There is one commercial I want to draw your attention to.  You know which one, don’t you?  The one with Tim Tebow and his mother.  She chose, against her doctor’s advice, to carry Tim to term.  I think that was a courageous choice, not knowing what lay ahead for her family, and a choice motivated by her belief in the precious value of human life.  Tim, it turned out, was healthy and strong.  So strong and healthy that in 2007 he was awarded the Heisman Trophy, a prize given to the best college football player of the year.  In ’07 he was a sophomore.  He was nominated to win again in 2009.

Putting Tim, the Heisman winner, his mother, a woman who exercised her choice to carry and deliver a baby, together with Super Bowl seemed a natural combination to Focus on the Family, the well-known organization seeking to encourage Christian values within our society.  I listen to ‘Focus’ (950 am, 7:30 a.m.) when Pat and I go to the gym three days a week.

I first heard about the upcoming commercial from the weekly e-mail I receive from our denominational headquarters.  I was surprised, then embarrassed, to discover that our leaders in Cleveland, OH were against the ad and very angry at CBS for airing it.

I was surprised because the United Church of Christ advocates inclusiveness.  “We exercise an extravagant welcome” to all.  Their reaction to the opinions of Focus on the Family was harsh and judgmental; hardly welcoming.  I don’t expect that our leaders and sister churches would agree with Focus on the Family’s position on abortion, but putting it down so strongly and even demanding that CBS refuse to air it is wrong.  People can think for themselves on such matters.  I’m sure there are differences of opinion here at First Parish on the question, but mutual respect is the goal—not rejection.

R.A.W.