Football Coach Fired For Prayer

Foxnews.com reported on October 29^th that Coach Joe Kennedy has been placed on administrative leave with pay from Bremerton High School in Washington State for not stopping his post game prayers.

“Kennedy, who is a devout Christian, had been under investigation since September after someone complained about his post-game prayers at the 50-yard-line.”

There are a lot of Christians who are very upset about what has happened to this coach, but what exactly did Jesus say about our prayer life?

Also when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already. But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, Who is in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. Matthew 6:5-6

I am not saying that this coach is a hypocrite, I do not know him or anybody that does know him, but Jesus tells us that we must not pray like the hypocrites do. So even if this coach is not a hypocrite, he is still praying like one, in the open, to be seen by men. Jesus tells us to pray in secret and what we pray for in secret will be rewarded openly. Jesus plainly tells us that if we pray like this in the open, then we have received all of the reward that we will ever get. So while praying like this looks religious, it actually goes against the way that Jesus taught us to pray.

Many will say that satan is attacking this man for his faith, but couldn’t it be our Father loving Joe enough to force him into praying in secret, so that our Father can truly reward him and the players in the open? Jesus was very clear in what He taught us about prayer and there is victory in praying in our most secret place.