A Tabernacles Trilogy 2. Sports Junkies and Ugly Scenes at the Ryder Cup ?

Oh dear, I confess, my normal early morning devotions have been severely disrupted by a trinity of compelling sports events; a Ryder Cup sandwich, in fact.

Friday: Ryder Cup
Saturday: Ryder Cup + Women’s Rugby Union World Cup Final + Match of the Day
Sunday: Ryder Cup + Match of the Day

Early morning devotions are not exclusively ‘spiritual’ as if the spiritual can be neatly separated from other aspects of life. But my routine, after a few seconds sat on the edge of the bed with as many thoughts as there are gold balls in a bunker…not known for brisk movement, and often plugged, is to perform some limbering up exercises. Exercises over in about 5 – 10 minutes, I can move in a less zombie-like manner. Then follows either walking boots or running gear and an exit for 30 minutes or so of madness, listening to a podcast, if the earbuds are charged.

Back, shower, cereal & toast & tea, I flip the pages of the bible open; these days in the book of Revelation, followed by prayer.

But, if, like me, you’re a sports junkie, this routine can suffer a series of setbacks, particularly in the summer months.

Here’s the thing, before we approach an indirect link to Tabernacles. The unpleasant, rude, coarse, uncalled-for and provocative comments, jeers, and boos from the American crowd at the Ryder Cup are a form of trespass that leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Nothing wrong with being partisan and a passionate supporter of your team, but ugly comments come from somewhere. Jesus said, ‘The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.’

So, what has gone wrong? Why has the normal restraint characteristic of the thousands that watch that curious of all sports – golf – a sport in which all its participants accept such an old-fashioned concept as ‘Etiquette’: behaviour expected that has little or nothing to do with the rules of the game.

Here’s my thesis. Those who abandon self-restraint and cross the line in terms of foul behaviour and Etiquette have misunderstood ‘sport’ altogether.

The unpleasant, rude, coarse, uncalled-for, and provocative comments, jeers, and boos from the American crowd at the Ryder Cup are a form of trespass that leaves a bad taste in the mouth

For sport to exist, there has to be cooperation; surprisingly, perhaps, it is an exercise in respect and humility. Sport cannot exist unless one is willing to lose. If you, as an individual or a team, are unwilling to lose, you spend your life on the practice ground, all alone. For sport to exist, two teams must contact each other, agree on a date to do battle, play within the rules, and defer to the referees on hand to settle disputes, whoever wins.

True supporters understand the tension between partisanship (I have been a passionate supporter of Portsmouth Football Club for 60 years) and respect, admiration, and even applauding one’s opponents, especially if they conduct themselves in the spirit of the competition…including playing to win and within the rules.

To pour scorn on your side’s opponents or make personal remarks about family members not only means you have misunderstood the nature of sport but have impoverished yourself; in demeaning others, you have demeaned yourself, become mean, narrow, and embittered, and, if your support is defined by the level of abuse you can hurl, you are blind and cannot see.

Finally, we arrive at Tabernacles, a picture of not two teams but twelve going at it. The twelve tribes of Israel. Or the twelve apostles of Christ. Or the umpteen apostles of our age.

First, a reminder of the biblical Feast of Tabernacles. Jews from the twelve tribes of Israel would make their way to Jerusalem each year to celebrate the week-long feast. In part, it was a reminder of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and their journey to the Promised Land, from camp to camp, living in tents (tabernacles) in the wilderness, but it also serves as a prophetic sign, like Passover and Pentecost.

So, if Passover represents salvation and Pentecost the baptism in the Spirit, what about Tabernacles?

Evangelical churches have preached salvation as a free gift, or ‘grace’, through faith in Christ – a Passover faith – since the Reformation. And Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have added Pentecost, preaching the baptism of the Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church in terms of supernatural and miraculous gifts and fruit.

But what about Tabernacles? The third major feast of the Jewish calendar, what is its prophetic fulfilment in and through Christ?

So, if Passover represents salvation and Pentecost the baptism in the Spirit, what about Tabernacles?

Jews celebrate Tabernacles today under a roof strewn with palm branches; they eat and drink, say prayers, and sing psalms. The roof has holes open to heaven. It’s a prophetic picture. The whole body of Christ, all believers of all persuasions, under one roof – and, like sport – one referee, God. There is no one leader.

We get two glimpses in John’s gospel that I will end with.

‘The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us’ John 1 v 14

And in John 7 on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, in the temple, Jesus cried out

‘If anyone is thirsty. Let him come to Me and drink…rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being’ This He said about the Spirit who had not yet been given’ John 7 v 37-39

The twelve apostles were not naturally on the same team. One was a zealot (terrorist or freedom fighter), one worked for the Romans collecting taxes, a few were northern fishermen, and so on. But the Spirit was poured out on all of them – and the 120 – and they became replicas of Christ, or ‘mini-Christs’ as CS Lewis wrote, temples or tabernacles of God the Holy Spirit.

There was no leader, apart from the Spirit. Each led by the Spirit and the Spirit trusted to choreograph the whole body. Until they were dispersed, the apostles formed a joint eldership in Jerusalem and reproduced this elders-led congregational model elsewhere.

Just like sport. Real sport. Once the final whistle is blown, both sides meet at the bar for a drink. Rivals but only rivals for the sake of doing what all wanted…to put a small white golf ball in a small hole under the Stars and Stripes and the European flags, each player bringing his unique swing, strengths, eye for the shot, club selection…I could go on…but I acknowledge the parable of the best and the worst from the Ryder Cup serves as a poor parable.

The question is – have we got eyes to see what a Passover+Pentecost+Tabernacles church looks like? What songs will be written? What happens when they gather? I don’t know about you, but, at best, I can only see a small cloud on the horizon.

That’s where we’ll start – small clouds – in the third and final part of this Tabernacles Trilogy in a few days time.