FEBRUARY 4, 2007

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 terms for a unique occurence called "Super Bowl Sunday", which is this week.

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 over four decades, forty-one 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 XLI - $1200 - $2500; TV audience - from 20 million to 800 million; price of 30 seconds of commercial time - $60,000 to $2.5 million. In less than one generation, this sports fest has exploded from a mere logical end of the season endeavor to an event that consumes the time and energy and interest of an entire culture.

The parallels with religion are not accidential. 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 undergird 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 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 rabid fan who will sit entrances before the boob tube hollering and screaming for two teams that I care nothing about - a defense to justify my "fandom for football".

OK, I'll buy that!

P.S. I am NOT in Miami for the Super Bowl this week, but rather in Houston, Texas, preaching a retreat to their priests. Unfortunately.