SOLI/Update - Feb. 2, 2004

‘Souper Bowl” or ‘Super Bowl’ Values?

On Sunday thousands of excited youth from churches across nation provided a welcome contrast of values to the nation’s most anticipated celebration of gluttony and consumption.

As part of the nationwide Souper Bowl of Caring, youth from churches of every stripe asked fellow members to give a dollar to help feed the hungry in their communities. Mostly by gathering relatively small amounts of a few hundred dollars apiece, churches and other organizations were aiming to raise $4 million nationwide.

"I'm intrigued by the idea that so much money can be raised a dollar at a time," Don Dexter, associate pastor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara, Calif., told the Daily Nexus newspaper. At St. Andrew, parishioners donated a total of $265. "It goes to show that we're not saviors of the world but individuals who do our part. Many hands make light work."

Last week I challenged readers to look behind the Souper Bowl effort and ask why our economy is producing more and more hungry people. A pastor responded that she agreed with the need to ask larger questions, but added:

“On the other hand, our youth group collected the money so eagerly, with hopes of making some little bit of difference. How can a pastor flatten that with the bigger picture? I chose not to do so.”

Quite right. Perhaps it’s wisest to pray and hope that the today’s enthusiasm for feeding the hungry will lead to greater awareness and tomorrow’s action.

Certainly the Souper Bowl has served to heighten issues of poverty. For 14 years it has sent out a message of light and sanity to a culture intoxicated by consumption.

This year it was especially needed. The game’s celebrated advertisements set a new record not only for cost – $2.3 million for a half-minute – but also for tastelessness. And the halftime show justifiably gained national condemnation as a lurid spectacle of “accidental” nudity, crotch-grabbing choreography and R-rated lyrics.

So much spent for such silly, empty, shallow, morally suspect enterprises. It really is an issue of stewardship. Don’t we, the people of the richest and most powerful nation the planet has ever known, have better things to do with our money?

The children and youth of the Souper Bowl of Caring remind us that yes, we do. Thanks, kids.

-Rob Blezard, Editor and Webmaster (webmaster@stewardshipoflife.org)

New This Week, Feb. 2 -8

Tithing: A Step in Walking the Way of Christ

"Jesus did tell his disciples to pay their taxes to Caesar; rendering to him the coin that has his face on it, but giving to God what is God's. I guess that raises the question: what part of your life belongs to God? Have you given it all to God, or just part of it? Is Jesus the ruler of your life, or someone you follow on Sunday from 10:30 to noon? By The Rev. Dr. Walk Jones, pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church, Pensacola, Fla.

February 2 - 8, 2004

SOLI/Update

www.stewardshipoflife.org

The Courage To Look Up
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