I wrote this for my church newsletter column on 10-14-21, the week Las Vegas Raiders coach John Gruden resigned after his emails were leaked. Two weeks later it is difficult to remember this story was a thing, but I'm still posting what I wrote here in hopes it's meaningful to someone.
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
--Luke 12:2-3 NIV
--Luke 12:2-3 NIV
I can’t be the only minister thinking about these words of Jesus this week. It is tempting to write a sermon (or church newsletter column) about this week’s news. As a lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fan, it is nearly impossible for me to feel sorry for anybody in the Las Vegas Raiders organization (they will always be the Oakland Raiders to me), and I have to just shake my head in wonder at the resignation of Raiders coach John Gruden. The friendly guy in the Corona commercials turned out to be pretty darn racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic and probably every other kind of -phobic and -ist once the world got to read his emails from over the last decade. As Jesus declared (sort of), “What is typed in your private email shall be leaked to the media.”
Before “Yeah, but what about . . .” escapes your mouth, let me state a few things.
All the people quoting Jesus this week regarding this story have a point. “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone . . .” Which one of us would want our own emails, texts or deleted social media posts and tweets broadcast to the world? I’m old enough to remember life before the internet, smartphones and social media. My college friends and I all agree that if social media had been around back in the day when we were young and stupid(er), none of us would be employable. We have a solemn compact that the print pictures and videos from those days must be destroyed or hidden somewhere with Raiders of the Lost Ark-level booby traps. All of us have moments where se have said or done lousy things that we wouldn’t want broadcast. God forbid the whole of our lives is summed up by our worst moments.
Also, Gruden is a scapegoat, a guilty scapegoat but still a scapegoat. Reporters and columnists are rightfully pointing out that somebody leaked Gruden’s emails to ruin his career, but there are hundreds of thousands of emails which currently remain hidden. Who knows what other NFL owners, coaches and general managers have written in their emails? Just ask last week’s NFL scandal, Urban Meyer, coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who was filmed dirty dancing with a young woman—not his wife—when he lied to his team and said he was visiting his grandkids. In an era where one person with a phone can take a picture or video and instantly send it around the world, hypocrites should beware.
This latest scandal connects with a long line of public figures caught with their public personas not matching up with their private behavior. Whether it is in entertainment (Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein, Lori Loughlin, etc.), politicians (Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, Matt Gaetz, etc.) athletics (US gymnastics, the Houston Astros, Robert Kraft, etc.) or business (Wells Fargo, Jeffrey Epstein, Tesla, etc.) there is plenty of unethical behavior to go around. What remains hidden is unquantifiable but surely awful. What should the consequences be when this terrible stuff gets revealed?
A current toxic political kerfuffle arrives in the form of so-called “cancel culture.” I won’t wade into it except to say as a Christian minister I believe in two concepts that may be relevant: grace and repentance.
Grace involves the love and forgiveness God offers to us which we cannot earn and do not deserve. Yet, God’s grace does not always free us from earthly consequences for our unethical actions. Scripture consistently declares that God detests false apologies and empty words from insincere people whose lousy deeds come to light.
Likewise, true repentance involves acknowledging one’s moral failures, accepting the consequences of those failures being found out, seeking to make restitution and committing to not repeat them. No, I don’t think a person’s professional life should be irreparably harmed due to a single bad email or tweet, but patterns of behavior (such as Gruden’s and presumably many other higher ups in the NFL) remain a different matter. I believe God loves John Gruden, stands ready to forgive him and desires for him to grow and change from this experience, and I also think a person in power cannot exercise that power ethically while holding the beliefs revealed in Gruden’s emails. Caring people can only hope this experience causes Gruden to do better than empty phrases like “I don’t have a racist bone in my body” or “I never meant to hurt anybody.”
Most of us aren’t going to hold positions in the public eye, but all of us must constantly assess whether our private beliefs and behavior match what we present to the outside world. Jesus taught that we are our best selves when our actions match what is in our hearts and when our deeds match our convictions. Jesus taught us about the dangers of the divided self and desires for us to live lives of wholeness. Sometimes we are wise enough to see the divisions and change them with God’s help before the consequences become devastating to our lives. Other times, we remain stubborn and prideful and refuse to do so. In such cases, God’s grace may come to us in the form of a public disgrace. I call such painful moments grace, because sometimes it is only when we feel the pain of our broken behavior intensely that we are willing to change for the better.
When our secret lives are revealed resulting in a crash and burn moment, we can be thankful God is there to offer grace and help us change for the better. I believe God’s grace and transforming power is available to everyone, even people wearing clothing with Raiders logos.
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Chase Peeples
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