{"id":6685,"date":"2016-09-20T06:28:01","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T10:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6685"},"modified":"2016-09-20T06:28:01","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T10:28:01","slug":"taking-a-knee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6685","title":{"rendered":"taking a knee"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1456983887044-b5ecb1059660\"<\/a>
\nOn Saturday, a bomb detonated on West 23rd Street in Manhattan at 8:30 p.m., injuring 29 people.
\nA man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, four commando-style gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, burst into the brigade headquarters on an Indian army base that killed 17 soldiers.
\nIn New Jersey, multiple explosive devices were found, one of which exploded near a train station.<\/p>\n

Then just yesterday, Reuters reported that a ceasefire negotiated by the U.S. and Russia in war-ravaged Syria looked imminent in collapsing. Insurgents were mounting strategies and arms, ready to resume fighting.<\/p>\n

And as I write this\u2026<\/p>\n

The U.S. Coast Guard is frantically searching for three missing boaters on Lake Superior, including a nine year old boy.
\nAnd on both the East and West coasts of Florida, authorities are investigating two unrelated, fatal shootings. One of the victims was a four year old girl. The other was only seventeen months old.<\/p>\n

I understand why so many turn off the news \u2014 and not just to avoid the vicious vitriol disappointingly included in this year\u2019s election cycle. We turn off the news because it\u2019s full of heartache and sin. Too many people, too many victims, and too much wrongdoing. Yes, it\u2019s too many and too much.<\/p>\n

But let me say this\u2026<\/p>\n

In all of the moments where people arguably are intentionally bringing attention to self, each of the above atrocities are the moments, in my opinion, most deserving of \u201ca knee.\u201d There is the heartache. The heartache in their lives is \u201cbigger than me.\u201d To take a knee is to pay honor to them.<\/p>\n

Football is just a game. It\u2019s only a game. Granted, I think we learn a lot from even the lesser things in life. Those lesser, more routine things \u2014 it\u2019s where God teaches us because we\u2019re more apt to finally \u201cget it.\u201d So in football and this whole knee idea\u2026 on one hand taking a knee means the game is over; it\u2019s synonymous with the \u201cquarterback kneel,\u201d when the outcome of the game is settled, the offense is aligned in their victory formation, and the knee is taken to run the clock down and preserve the win.<\/p>\n

On the other (far bigger)<\/em> hand, to take a knee is a show of respect. Taking a knee means we stop whatever we\u2019re doing, momentarily ending our normal activity, and recognizing that there are other things more important than moi.<\/p>\n

Truthfully, when the San Francisco backup quarterback originally sat<\/em><\/strong> in protest, I was a bit confused. The reality is that his sitting could have just as easily been motivated by his disgust with 49er management that he had regressed to backup, and there is\/was no way to discern with certainty whether his initial act was a protest against perceived police brutality or the manifestation of a professional pout.<\/p>\n

Then, however, the quarterback took a knee. To me, that means something different.<\/p>\n

Taking a knee is a sign of submission. Again, it\u2019s an awareness that something is bigger than self.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why at game\u2019s end of every NFL contest, regardless of outcome, members of both teams meet at midfield. The tradition began 26 years ago, in December of 1990, when 49ers chaplain Pat Richie and NY Giants chaplain Dave Bratton arranged for the first joint postgame prayer in NFL history.<\/p>\n

As Richie said then \u2014 knowing these two teams detested one another \u2014 that they saw each other as the enemy \u2014 “I wonder if there’s something that we could do or should do, as far as a reflection of our faith. What if we did something as simple as pray with the New York Giants?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Ah, what if we took all attention off of self, met in the middle, and interacted with those we detest? What if we recognized the real atrocities in this world? And what if we were each more submissive and respectful, willing and wanting to take a knee?<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, a bomb detonated on West 23rd Street in Manhattan at 8:30 p.m., injuring 29 people. A man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota. On Sunday, four commando-style gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, burst into the brigade headquarters on an Indian army … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “taking a knee”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6685"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6690,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6685\/revisions\/6690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}