Congratulation to the Florida Panthers - Winners and Losers

Congratulation to the Florida Panthers! Vamos Gatos! Even though I’m not much of a hockey fan, like a lot of other South Floridians I was happy to see the Panthers take home the Stanley Cup.

But then ….

They decided to hold their victory parade this Sunday starting at 11:00 AM.

Note to everyone in the Panthers organization: Did it not occur to any of you that at least some of your loyal fans, people who have supported you with their money and their attendance for years – even all those years when you were not winning – those loyal fans might, just might, attend worship services on Sunday morning? That scheduling your parade at that time on Sunday sends a very clear, unmistakable message: you don’t give the south end of a north-bound rat, the kind your fans throw on the ice when the home team is winning, about Christians who are Panthers’ fans but have a higher commitment, a greater love than to your sports team? No one in your organization: ownership, management, front office, marketing, sales, coaches, players (and surely you have a team chaplain, no?) – nobody said, “Hey, maybe we could start at 1:00 Sunday afternoon instead” – ?

Unreal … but sadly all too typical of our increasingly secular culture.

So again, congratulations on winning Lord Stanley’s Cup. Unfortunately, you also lost something a lot more important and enduring. I hope next year when those rats coming raining down on the ice again you will think about the message you just sent the South Florida Christian community.

Kent