FEBRUARY 12, 2006

Special vesture; dedicated songs; ritualized actions; communal celebration; universal gathering of all ages, races, classes, genders; commitments of loyalty; good vs. evil; litany of heroes and invocation of ancestors; distinctive space: all of these are elements of liturgy and the practice of religion. But this Sabbath day they do not apply to any denomination or deity. Rather, they are all applicable to a unique occurrence called "Super Bowl Sunday".

Every year, our society "goes over the top" in its observance of the American Football Championship Game known as the Super Bowl. We have been doing this for forty years. And it gets bigger and bigger as time goes on. Consider the price of a ticket (face value, not scalpers' prices): Super Bowl I - $6 to $12; Super Bowl XL - $600 to $900; TV audience - originally 20 million, now 600 million; price of 30 seconds of commercial time - formerly $60,000, raised to $1.8 million. In about one generation, this sports fest has exploded from a mere logical end of the season’s endeavor to an event that consumes the time, energy and interest of an entire culture.

And the parallels with religion are not accidental. It is a national liturgy, a worship experience that involves values and actions that cannot be explained by reason alone, but rather must be interpreted "through the eyes of faith". It is emotion, feelings, that under gird the Super Bowl phenomenon, not logic and rationality. Everything from point spreads to the scramble for tickets are driven by the heart, not the head. In all aspects, it has become a national mystical experience instead of a mere recreational diversion.

One might think that I, as a person of the cloth, would decry such fervor as blasphemy. But on the contrary, I look to the very roots of our Christian faith, St. Paul's writings specifically, to place this process in context. Paul himself often used metaphors from the world of sports to help explain the theology and spirituality of his gospel message. He made concrete and real to his listeners what sort of response to the Lord he hoped for in their lives by drawing analogies to what they were familiar with in their secular pursuits. What we feel about sports is not in contradistinction to what we feel about faith, but rather can be assimilated even as a parable.

Some reading this may think that this essay is a veiled rationalization for the fact that I myself am a long time Steeler fanatic and took off last weekend to be in Detroit for our Steeler victory- in other words, a defense to justify my "fandom for football".

OK, I'll buy that!