Disunity in Christ by Christena Cleveland

Author:Christena Cleveland ["Cleveland, Christena"]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2013-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

What Texas Football Can Tell Us About Conflict

I recently watched a television show called Friday Night Lights on Netflix. It’s a show about the Dillon Panthers, a larger-than-life high school football team and the town that lives, eats and breathes Panther football. The show doesn’t have a ton of fans, but I like it. There are pretty realistic football sequences, beautiful thirty-year-olds who play high school kids on the show and plenty of melodrama. It’s kind of like watching SportsCenter and Dawson’s Creek at the same time. What’s not to love? Besides, the Dillon Panthers display lots of fascinating group processes, and my inner nerd just can’t resist a show about group processes.

The citizens of Dillon attend church on Sundays, but they worship on Friday nights at the football stadium. All of the grown-up men proudly wear the state championship rings that they earned when they were Panthers. Everyone in the Texas town goes to all the games, not just the playoff games. (Southern California people who watch the show are probably thinking, “Wait, there are actual games before the playoffs?”) Coach Taylor’s job is on the line every single Friday night because the entire town is living vicariously through the team. The team’s undefeated record doesn’t suffice. Coach must win this Friday or else the boosters will be calling for his head. To make matters worse, tensions in the town are running high because the team’s All-American quarterback was recently injured, is now permanently paralyzed and is virtually irreplaceable. (That’s a plot “twist” that surprised no one. What Hollywood sports story doesn’t involve a star player getting hurt?)

In one episode, the Dillon Panthers are preparing to play their league rivals, the hated Arnett Mead Tigers. The stakes are high. Can the Panthers beat the Tigers? Will Coach Taylor get fired? Can the new QB handle the pressure?

The Panthers are serious about winning the game. This is made clear by the amount of time they spend practicing, analyzing videotape and strategizing. However, a few days before the game the Panthers discover that the Tigers have infiltrated and trashed the Panther locker room, destroying benches, uniforms and trophies, and spray painting obscenities on the walls. The Panthers are justifiably angry, but the honorable Coach Taylor warns them not to retaliate. Rather, he encourages them to dispense payback on the football field when they play the Tigers in the upcoming game. Naturally, the players completely ignore Coach’s warning and plan to repay the Tigers immediately. (And really, who can blame them? They carry the honor of the entire town of Dillon on their thirty-year-old—er, fifteen-year-old—shoulders.) The next night, a group of players locate the Tigers quarterback’s home and use baseball bats to demolish his vintage Mustang. Not the classiest move, but certainly very effective. Of course the Tigers strike back by attacking the new Panthers quarterback with so much vengeance that he lands in the hospital.

The interesting thing about this whole scenario is that football is practically an afterthought. The Panthers and

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