I Don't Want To Play Football

"I don't want to play football
I don't understand the rules of the game
I don't want to play football
I don't understand the thrill of the running, catching, throwing
Taking orders from a moron
Grabbing for the sweaty crotches
Getting hit by people I don't know
Sugar, I'd rather play a different sort of game"
-Belle and Sebastian

This song has always resonated with truth for me :)

---

"My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?"
-James 2:1-7

I remember reading a book this summer called "Under the Overpass" in which two Christian college students decided to live as homeless people for six months. One of the things that amazed me in the book is the way the two of them were treated when they tried to go to church. They were at best avoided and treated with suspicion, and on several occasions they were actually forced to leave because they were bothering the other people there.

We love to talk about "helping the poor," but we like to think about it in this sterile, seperated way. The truth is that the poor aren't attractive, well-groomed chaps. Those Jesus calls us to love can be ugly, dirty and sometimes dangerous. We congradulate ourselves when we give a homeless guy a couple of dollars or a burger. But this isn't showing them sacrificial love. Lets wait to pat ourselves on the back until we are instead taking them into our churches and homes.

---

I've somehow fallen in love with the Streets. I don't understand it, but there's something about their proper, awkward British hip-hop tunes about smoking splints and forgetting to return movies that I really enjoy.