What Does God Think of the Super Bowl?

Super Bowl Week – which is really two weeks of hype, created controversy, Richard Sherman bashing, Richard Sherman supporting, “What-if?” questions, projected legacies, weather analysis and a time intended to create as much buy-in for people to want to watch the big game. As football fans, we find so much of this unnecessary as we are already invested into the season and want to see who wins. Non-football fans, I just feel pity for them.

But with every big event, we often like to wonder where God’s interests are. One reason is because we presume that God only watches the station “America” on His heavenly flat screen. I’ll move past our “American God complex” and [Read more…]

Super Bowl Reflections: Beyonce, Paul Harvey & Of Course, Ray Lewis & Jesus

Can you handle another post on the Super Bowl? Well, I don’t watch hockey and baseball isn’t in spring training yet so I’m not yet ready to let go of the NFL. Last one for a while and I’ll get back to posting on seeking a better evangelicalism and building a stronger church.

There is so much I enjoy about the NFL. It’s fast, exciting and competitive. Regardless of the performance of your team, this season had some pretty dramatic story lines: Replacement Refs, Rookie QB”s, the Seahawks??, the return of Peyton Manning trumped by the return of Adrian Peterson, “Butt Fumble,” the [Read more…]

What The Super Bowl Power Outage Really Meant – Watch Out Goodell!

The power outage of the Super Bowl was one of the highlights for me. My friends and I shared a few good laughs and it’s these moments that justify the craziness of the social media world:

“Beyonce literally shut it down.”
“I’ve kicked the Playstation cord out of the wall before, too. Well played Jim Harbaugh.”
“The intensity of Ray Lewis’ feelings KNOCKED THE POWER OUT.”
“Finally, America cares about the infrastructure in NOLA.”
and my favorite
“Over 100 NFL players without power in New Orleans right now. Please help. Every donation counts. #SuperBowl”

Now, how in the world, does a major city like New Orleans who have a power outage during the Super Bowl? [Read more…]

A Pre-Super Bowl Reflection – Things For my Brothers and Sisters to Keep in Mind While Watching

Well of course, being a Giants fan living in New England as the two teams play, this is on my mind. Factor in my role at the Sunday night evening service brings another thought or two. (“Did God say we had to worship every Sunday?” Do we not cancel for exceptions like inclimate weather, this seems like an another example ;)

The Super Bowl is interesting on so many levels. It’s an invented holiday, meaning at some point, American society had to be convinced that they needed to celebrate this day, even if you had no interest in the NFL. From the two week build-up, to the commercials, the halftime show, to the actual game itself, it’s hard to deny it “holiday” status. In fact, second to Thanksgiving, it’s the highest holiday of food consumption of the year – 30 million pounds of food will be consumed!

So a few words of reminder to my Christian brothers and sisters regardless of which team you are cheering for.

1. We all know that it’s just a game but it’s a really, really fun one so let’s be kind and generous with each other at our parties, on Facebook and on the Twitterverse.

For non-football fans, it would be helpful if you saw this similar to a conclusion of a very long movie. Many of us football fans have watched all season to see the conclusion. The conclusion is usually only celebrated by a few of us but most of us not only like closure but the end of this season will mean a new season can begin. And as we learn every season, few things went the way we thought they would. This unpredictability is part of why football is so exciting.

2. Win or lose, it doesn’t actually involve your identity. True fans like to think it does but it really doesn’t.

Some may tell you that I’m not a true sports fan because I do not actually go into depression when my team loses. Further, in real life, I don’t actually hate the players of my rival teams. This is all just fun and the added language of “Brady sucks” is in the tone of brotherly love, not actually anything against the guy. The fact that he’s good is what adds the fun.

My favorite part of sports rivalries is that you get to argue about things that don’t actually matter. It’s not like arguing politics, theology, global issues or things involving our loved ones. Again, this is supposed to be fun.

Of course it all depends on what happens in the game but in short, if the Patriots win, I’ll be bummed for a little bit. I’ll try to be a good sport when the Pats fans mock me and I’ll avoid biting their fingers when they stick it in my face (I guess that came to mind because I have a 2 and 3 yr. old in the house but I digress).

If we win, I’ll be happy and excited but a short while later, I’ll be back in the real world. I’ll try to be a good sport and not mock the Pats fans and I’ll avoid sticking my finger in their face, while shouting “Eli the Elite!”

But win or lose, let’s not allow either experience to get the best of us.

3. For the Christian, in the big picture, win or lose, it’s Sunday. Its the day where the Church gathers together and says, “Christ is Risen … He’s risen indeed.” Let’s never forget this.

Best of luck to both teams – see you around.