“What If God Cares about the Game, Not Just the Team?,” Liahona, Dec. 2023.
What If God Cares about the Game, Not Just the Team?
“The Church of Jesus Christ is committed to serving those in need, and it is also committed to cooperating with others in that effort.”1
Illustrations by Jarom Vogel
Sports can be a lot like religion (some would say they are a religion). They engender strong feelings. They demand devotion. They provide spaces of comforting community.
Like sports teams, the world’s faiths have their own names and iconography. You can tell a Catholic priest from a Jewish rabbi from a Muslim imam from a Latter-day Saint missionary. Religious people show devotion in a variety of ways: we frequent houses of worship; we financially support our congregations; we observe religious holidays; we serve our neighbors; we go on missions.
And as happens in sports, people of faith sometimes allow differences to blind them to the common ground they share with others. This behavior burns bridges to the good that can be done only when we come together to help each other and bless the world.
Collective humanity—when focused on doing good—is like hands in mittens on a sub-zero morning: the fingers together are warm. A community engaged in worthy causes enlivens the soul.
The Game and the Team
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (1948–2020), the former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, once spoke of attending a football match at Highbury Stadium (home to Arsenal) with the archbishop of Canterbury. Arsenal was playing Manchester United. After the public address announcer noted the religious leaders’ presence, Rabbi Sacks said, “You could hear the buzz go around the ground that whichever way you played this particular theological wager, one way or another, that night, Arsenal had friends in high places. They couldn’t possibly lose.
“That night,” he added, “Arsenal went down to their worst home defeat in sixty-three years.”
The next day a British newspaper ran an article that said, no doubt in jest, that if the presence of these two prominent religious leaders couldn’t bring about a victory for Arsenal, then “does this not finally prove that God does not exist?” To which Rabbi Sacks rejoined, “It proves that God exists. It’s just that he supports Manchester United.”
Rabbi Sacks said this amusing story contains seeds of serious insight about the importance of interfaith and global harmony. “What if God is not only on my side, but also on the other side?” he asked. “What if God cares about the game, not just the team? … Our common humanity precedes our religious differences.”2
The game of life could be described in these words that President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) spoke to a journalist: “It is the old eternal battle. … The forces of evil against the forces of good.”3 As followers of Jesus Christ, we are on the side of the Savior, “who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38) and shares His sunshine and rain with everyone (see Matthew 5:45).
Although sometimes we must stand apart and hold to our distinctive doctrine, doing good can be done without compromising our beliefs. We will make the best impact when we join others of goodwill and common goals. This is perhaps most evident in the wake of natural disasters and other crises, which bring us together in unique ways. As Church Humanitarian Services director Sharon Eubank said, “As the [United States] polarizes and as people move to their tribes, I think one of the great lessons that can be learned—if there’s any silver lining in a disaster—is that … we can set politics aside, and we can find common ground to build back up our communities.”4
Associating with and learning from others is a natural outgrowth of being nourished by and sharing the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors and be united. He was not threatened by the good that other groups did.
We are not in competition with others. Their faith and goodness can strengthen our own. And together we can do more good than we can apart.
The following four examples show how members and leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ are living with open minds and hearts toward others—doing good both for them and with them.
Because of construction, over 2,000 Muslims in Ghana didn’t have a place to celebrate their religious holidays in 2022. Leaders of the Takoradi Ghana Stake let them worship on the grounds of the stake center. Top: Brother Emmanuel Botwe (left) helped coordinate between the two groups.
Helping Muslims Worship in Ghana
Joseph Smith spoke of the value of hosting strangers and sectarians, promising them a listening ear when he said, “They shall have my pulpit all day.”5
That blessed tradition continues today in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Take, for example, the generous Saints of Ghana. Because of construction, local Muslims didn’t have a place where large groups could gather for worship during some of 2022. In April of that year, Latter-day Saints graciously allowed 2,000 followers of Islam to use the Takoradi Ghana Stake center for Ramadan meals and prayers. Two months later, Latter-day Saint leaders welcomed the group as they celebrated Eid al-Adha. These are two of Islam’s biggest holidays.6
Our Muslim friends were grateful. “We are all brothers and sisters. We are from one heritage,” said the local Muslims’ chief imam, Alhaji Mohammad Awal, alluding to Abraham’s sons Ishmael and Isaac.7
Emmanuel Botwe, called to lead communication in the Takoradi Ghana Stake, said he has cultivated relationships with other faiths in the area since 2018. He has invited them in to play football and attend a religious symposium, stake conferences, and the dedication of a new meetinghouse.
“We all have to respect and care for each other regardless of our differences,” Brother Botwe said. “That has prompted me to reach out—especially to our Muslim brothers.” Muslims make up only 19 percent of Ghana, a predominantly Christian country. “We are all sons and daughters of our Father,” he continued, “so we need to see eye to eye with them.”
Brother Botwe’s outreach balances kindness with principle. Muslims traditionally celebrate Eid al-Adha by sacrificing an animal such as a ram or goat. They do this in memory of God allowing Abraham to sacrifice a ram instead of his son Isaac.
“We told [our Muslim friends] that it’s not possible for them to slaughter the ram at our church premises. We explained our belief that the ultimate sacrifice has been done by the Almighty. And they respected our wish,” Brother Botwe said. “After the service, they moved to the mosque, where the sacrifice was done by the chief imam.”
For Brother Botwe’s kindness, the chief imam gifted him some of the ram meat. Brother Botwe graciously accepted.
“When you start by respecting their values and beliefs, respecting them for who they are—and not condemning them, not belittling them, even if you disagree with them—mutual respect will be there,” Brother Botwe said.
Latter-day Saints joined other Christian groups in Boston, Massachusetts, to donate food for those in need.
Feeding the Hungry in Boston
Latter-day Saints in Massachusetts, USA, have been working with the Azusa Christian Community and Catholic Charities to bring food to the poor in Boston, Malden, and Springfield. In November 2022 the Church donated 3,000 frozen turkeys and 40 tons of nonperishable food.
Three semitrucks of food from the Bishops’ Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City arrived in Boston on November 19. A thousand turkeys were delivered to Catholic Charities Boston to help them in their distribution of 1,400 Thanksgiving meals to households in the city’s Dorchester neighborhood. The other 2,000 turkeys, along with the 40 tons of food, were unloaded at a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse in Newton. And then came the volunteers—about 400 of them—who spent their Saturday unloading provisions and repackaging them into 2,000 food kits.
Two of those volunteers, Charles Inouye and his son Kan, helped deliver and set up long tables and dollies in the meetinghouse parking lot. Kan helped open and stack cardboard boxes. His dad worked the forklift.
“Jesus taught that the sun shines on everyone and that the rain falls on the just and the unjust,” Brother Inouye said. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what ‘be ye therefore perfect’ means [Matthew 5:48]. Can we be like the sun and the rain—perfectly giving to anyone, anywhere, anytime?”
The Reverend Eugene Rivers, who leads the Azusa Christian Community, visited Newton that morning. He said people of faith and goodwill who come together in good causes are society’s “last best hope” to prevent us from sinking into deeper division.
“Unless faith communities more actively engage one another, it does not bode well for this country,” the Reverend Rivers said.
Faith groups coming together as they are in Boston is, the Reverend Rivers said, a wise and effective Christian solution—and the “only promising option our country has” to achieve unity and wholeness.
Latter-day Saints in Memphis, Tennessee, are working with the NAACP to help mothers and babies and reduce infant mortality rates.
Helping Moms in Memphis
In Tennessee, USA, some Latter-day Saints have joined with brothers and sisters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to help mothers and their babies thrive in an area that has one of the United States’ highest infant mortality rates. This effort is helping carry out the vision President Russell M. Nelson outlined in 2021 of the two organizations coming together in community service.8
In November 2022, four members of the Dudley family from the Memphis Tennessee Stake gathered with several dozen people at the NAACP Memphis Branch to pass out fliers about a program of classes designed to help new and expectant mothers better care for their children.
“We had the opportunity to knock on the door of a woman that is pregnant right now,” said Marc Allan Dudley, who distributed fliers with his wife, Sonya, and two of their daughters. “Her eyes kind of lit up, and she was thankful for the program. … People are happy that somebody notices that there’s an issue and that there’s somebody doing something about it.”
“This partnership is God ordained and God inspired,” added NAACP Memphis Branch president Van Turner. “I’m just so happy that it’s happening at such a critical time in our city. We’re dealing with public safety, we’re dealing with homelessness, we’re dealing with poverty. [It’s critical to address] the origin of humanity, when these young people are in the womb, and try to make sure they get the proper care while in the womb [and then] come out and survive and be healthy. Once that happens, they have a great start in life.”9
The Church has placed Light the World Giving Machines in 28 cities to give people opportunities to purchase food, water, medical care, beds, and other supplies for those in need.
Lighting the World with Giving Machines
Since 2017, the Church has provided giving-focused vending machines (called Light the World Giving Machines) as a unique way for people to donate to help those in need. In 2022, these machines were used in 28 locations from Manila to Mexico City. Patrons can purchase items for others such as groceries, vaccines, beds, fresh water, and livestock. The donations go to the Church’s local and global charitable partners.
Latter-day Saint Jenny Doan made a special quilt to raise money for the Giving Machines in her area. “I just think [these machines are] so special because it’s not just [helping] locally, although that’s important,” Sister Doan said. “You can give a goat to a family who needs a goat—it’s not something you could wrap up normally and put in a box. But here you have the opportunity to do that. And those kind[s] of things change people’s lives.”10
Tiffany Bird, a Latter-day Saint in Atlanta, Georgia, called the Giving Machines a “unique way to help my children experience giving to others. Seeing the products in the machines, they realize how there are families and children around them that do not have basic daily needs. And this is an opportunity for them to do something about that.”11
In the October 2022 general conference, President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, quoted Elder Orson F. Whitney’s teaching that “God is using more than one people for the accomplishment of his great and marvelous work. … It is too vast, too arduous, for any one people.” President Oaks then admonished us to be “more aware and more appreciative of the service of others.”12
As Rabbi Sacks said, it’s about the game, not just the team. Latter-day Saint or not, we’re all in this together.