Sport proves our inherent need to worship

We were on a family holiday in Newcastle years ago, and this of course meant we had to visit St James’ Park. We didn’t manage to watch a match or do the stadium tour, but upon visiting the club shop, we came across some thought-provoking memorabilia in the form of a t-shirt which featured the phrase, ‘Newcastle United is my religion. St James’ Park is my church'.

Now, you could tell by looking at my dad, who is a church minister, that he had already come up with a sermon illustration for his return to the pulpit. And who could blame him, as this sentiment reveals more about our human condition than the designers of the t-shirt could possibly have imagined.

This story focuses on Newcastle United, but the sentiment expressed on the t-shirt would be common at most football and other sports stadia up and down the country.

Fanatical by nature

Sports fans are fanatical by nature. Every week, TV companies promote massive clashes, whether it be a top of the table six-pointer, a relegation dogfight or a good old fashioned derby clash. Supporters lap this up, generating raucous atmospheres. They roar their teams on, believing every extra ounce of energy they can muster, even from the stands, might just push their team over the line.

Furthermore, you will regularly hear one team’s supporters proudly singing about how much louder their fans are than their opponent’s, and social media features endless debate around which teams have the best supporters.

Sports fans are accurately represented by the statement on that Newcastle t-shirt, and this all comes down to our natural condition as human beings; we are, at our most fundamental level, made to worship.

The Bible is full of verses which tell us this and sport is perhaps the area which best reflects our need to worship something. God has created us to glorify Him in all that we do, whether that's through direct worship itself, or other aspects of our lives. It is what we have been placed on the earth to do and is what Christians will do in eternity with Him.

Many sports fans would baulk at the idea of ‘finding Jesus,’ or ‘getting religion,’ but the truth is that what many of them do at sports matches is subconsciously attempt to create conditions which allow them to worship something.

Thousands flock to one location every weekend and are all centred around the field. Supporters take great pride in the volume and quality of the songs they sing and celebrate together when their team does well. If you take out the team they are supporting, do a lot of those elements not sound quite like the things we do at church?

As we see here, sports fans project their inherent need to worship onto their teams. However, because it is not God whom they are glorifying, they are inevitably disappointed more often than they are not, as this places unrealistic expectations on their sporting heroes, as they, like them, are imperfect and flawed.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am a season ticket holder with my favourite football team and love little more than the noise and colour which a huge match provides. But if we make our sports team our religion and their stadium our church, we leave ourselves open to mostly disappointment and a general lack of true fulfilment, leading to cynicism and bitterness in the long run.

We should enjoy passionately supporting our sporting heroes, but remembering they are just our sporting heroes. Our faith must be in the Lord and our church must be His church. And wonderfully, as no one, not even younger Manchester City fans who only remember recent years of success, could say about their sporting icons, He will never disappoint us or let us down.