Blog

The Colorado Rapids have been in the news of late, particularly over the situation with the head coach, Oscar Pareja. For the last couple of months, there have been stories that surface about Pareja’s pursuit by his former club FC Dallas. Beginning in November of 2013, rumors that Dallas had interest in the former player, former academy coach started to hit online media outlets. The Rapids quickly shut down the conversation with a strong statement that Pareja was the future coach. But the story resurfaced just before Christmas, that Dallas was really keen to make Pareja their next head coach. After weeks of quiet, the news suddenly broke that Pareja was stepping down as head coach, but then Pareja was seen at the Rapids training ground this past Monday. And finally, reports that Pareja would finally be FC Dallas’ man for 2014 and beyond surfaced again on Tuesday. Dizzy, yet?

Now, if you clicked each of the links above you are truly a dedicated fan. The dramatic saga, while still not over, and situations like this create a lot of tension, stress, and feelings of instability within a professional sports environment. Consider, for a moment – from the fans, to the coaching staff that are allied with a particular coach, to the players that a coach brought into the organization, to the families of other staff members who now face uncertainty of having jobs within the club, to the executives and administrators – each person in times such as these has to wrestle with feelings of betrayal, hurt, instability, uncertainty, depression, and more.

As a chaplain, we are called to be a peaceful presence in times like these. It can be difficult to not get caught up in the emotions of the situation – to feel the anxiety and pressure of everyone else in the room; however, as a chaplain, and especially as a Christian chaplain, we are to remember in these moments that while the storm rages and tosses the boat this way and that – the Maker of wind and wave is in the boat with us. We can call on him. We can trust him. And many times in our pastoral role, we serve to point people to Christ as the Prince of Peace. We serve to be a listening, supportive presence to the tumult all around us. To bring stability from above into the chaos below.

Blessings,

 

Rev. Brad Kenney