David Pocock is an Australian Rugby player and Follower of Christ. The Bible Society invited him to write a piece to be included in a Bible they were publishing. They ultimately rejected his piece - not based on anything he wrote in the article - but because of his public support of equal marriage rights for all (which is not even mentioned in his essay). To some this stance makes your salvation/ability to be a faithful witness questionable. Sad, but true. I think Pocock's friend made a good point when he asked:
"Did the Bible Society ask about the banking practices of you and others contributing to the book?" Since Jesus spoke nothing that is recorded in Scripture about homosexuality but much about money and what we do with it.
Below is what Pocock wrote for the Bible project.
A larger article that he wrote about the issue can be found here:
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/12/02/3382170.htm
I am encouraged by his openness and willingness to stand for what he believes in.
My journey of faith
by David Pocock
Sometimes it sounds like responding to Jesus is not about salvation but "success."
I'm thankful for my parents, Jane and Andy, who's deep relationship with Jesus pointed to something more hopeful (for me personally and for our hurting world) than "success" as society defines it. They brought my brothers and I up with a deep understanding of the importance of being a follower of Jesus.
Christians often use the language of "following," but my parents showed us that meant something practical. As 1 John 2:6 puts it, "those who claim to be in him must walk as Jesus walked." They encouraged us to read and learn and discuss as much as we could.
If Jesus asks us to love God with everything we've got and to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mark 12:28-30), it means not just our hearts but our minds as well. My parents gave us permission to do just that.
I always identified as a Christian but when I moved away from home at 17 - to pursue a rugby career in Perth - like most young people I began to question the assumptions and beliefs I had and to wonder whether they were really "mine" or if I believed them just because of the way I had been brought up.
In the words of Martin Luther King Jr, faith "had to become real to me and I had to know God for myself." Being pretty determined and an avid reader, I have spent the last few years reading, learning and praying.
I read the Bible, especially the Gospels, and also read books by people who encourage us to live like him: Martin Luther King Jr, John Howard Yoder, John Dear, Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Lee Camp, N.T. Wright and Cornel West. (Lee Camp's Mere Discipleship is probably the book I've read that explains what following Jesus really can look like.)
I continue to realise much of what has passed for Christianity in my life and in larger culture (tragically, this includes the church) has sometimes more to do with being white, or middle class, or capitalist - all things that Christ Jesus was not.
It's confronting to realise that it's possible to call yourself a Christian and serve the interests of an idolatrous empire, rather than serving those Jesus came to save.
That's why we all need grace. Grace is both pardon (we are forgiven from cooperating in what Dorothy Day would call "the filthy rotten system") and empowerment ("to live God's love by letting God love through us" as my mate who did the homily at my wedding often says).
Once I began to read the story of Jesus with a growing understanding of the Gospels' original context - it came alive! I could hear and feel God's grace daring me to lose my life and really find it in following Jesus.
Jesus has come to usher in his new Kingdom "on earth as in heaven" - not to offer us a fire insurance policy for life after death - but to live life now; for Christ and like-Christ. This is life in its fullness (John 10:10).
The early Christians were called people of the Way, because they followed Christ's way of reflecting God's love, mercy, grace and restorative justice.
For about two and a half years now I've been a part of group that meets on Tuesday nights - a place to share things, encourage and challenge each other. We discuss all sorts of things, from our personal struggles to environmental issues, social justice issues, to global poverty and patriarchy. These discussions come from our deep belief that Jesus's call is for us to help "the least of these" practically.
I really believe that to follow the New Testament's nonviolent Christ is how we are to worship him. For me, my faith is about committing my life to helping those that Jesus came to save, and by seeing church as the community of believers committed to following Jesus.
I think following Jesus means not conforming to the world but allowing our lives to be transformed (Romans 12:1-2). Loving God by loving those around us, loving people for who they are being there for people especially for those the world forgets or considers "unlovable."
I don't do this to make God love me, but I want to live my life in a way that reflects how God has first loved us. As preachers sometimes like to say, "There is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make God love us less."
I'm trying to bear witness to this "unfailing love" through the work that my friend Luke O'Keefe, wife Emma Palandri and I are helping facilitate in Zimbabwe, called Eightytwenty Vision and Heroes Boots.
Sometimes there are a lot of pressures that come with a public profile and it doesn't decrease when you are trying to "live God's love." It's not just about avoiding doing "bad things," but often the pressure is to not speak-out when there are "bad things" happening in our world. Yet Proverbs 31:8-9 says:
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Speak up with fairness and justice, and defend the rights of the poor and needy."
There were many Christian sports stars who remained silent when they could have leant their voice to the causes that reflect God's kingdom - like the movements Martin Luther King Jr and Desmond Tutu were leading.
I know it's risky, and I know I might get some things wrong, but Jesus asks that we take up our cross and follow him. That is why I'm seeking to use my public profile to support things like partnering with people suffering in Zimbabwe, fair-trade clothes and taking real action on climate change that hits the poor the hardest.
God has made clear what he asks of me: "to do justice, love compassion and walk humbly with God" (Micah 6:8). If I'm going to be open with my faith, I need to express it not just on my lips but in my life.
Living in a country like Australia, it's easy to forget the hard work that goes into what we eat, wear and use. One of the things God has opened my eyes to is how I can witness to God's good news to the poor by not spending my money on products that harm the poor and destroy the environment.
It's difficult to be a professional rugby player and be committed to following Jesus, but no more so than most people. It's hard for all of us not to get distracted by things that might seem important, but are not important in the Kingdom that Jesus came to announce.
I'm so aware of my need for grace. I wear uniforms that were often made in countries where the rights of workers are not ensured and where sometimes children are working in the factories. I get on planes for work all the time yet am aware of how climate change hits the poor the hardest.
None of us occupy a moral high ground from which to judge others. Instead Christians should be humble, forgiving, non-judgemental, precisely because we've experienced God's "amazing grace."
It is this grace that has forgiven me and this grace empowers me to witness to God's kingdom, to "live God's love by letting God love through us."
David Pocock plays rugby for the Australian Wallabies and the Western Force. He is the co-founder of EightyTwentyVision and HeroesBoots.
