A sermon preached at Putnam Presbyterian Church, NY, February 11, 2024

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Now, I know that the church calendar calls this Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday before the beginning of Lent when we observe the story of Jesus climbing a mountain with three of his apostles, communing with great Hebrew prophets, and being revealed as the Messiah of God. But let’s be honest: you did not wake up this morning thinking, “Oh goody, it’s Transfiguration Sunday!” But many of us probably did wake up and say to ourselves, “Hey, the Super Bowl is on today!”

Super Bowl Sunday has become a ritual of American life. Even if your favorite team is not playing, even if you are not a regular football fanatic, chances are pretty good that you will sit down in front of the game tonight. Millions of Americans will do just that. And not just for the game: the hours-long pregame shows, the commercials, and the halftime show have become cultural events as well. The Super Bowl brings Americans together like few things do these days.

The Super Bowl is a religious event in some ways—a ritual of civil religion. About seven or eight years ago, I wrote a sermon called “Why God Loves Football.” A revision of that sermon ended up as a chapter in my most recent book, American Liturgy: Finding Theological Meaning in the Holy Days of US Culture. The point of that book was to say that many holidays in American culture can be understood as significant from a Christian point of view; Super Bowl Sunday is no exception. In that book chapter, I made a tongue-in-cheek case for why football was the holiest of all sports, and why I think it holds a special place in God’s heart. The real point of that sermon, though, was that football—and sports—can symbolize some good things about God and human life and culture, like the importance of family, community, and the gift of fun and leisure.

A lot has changed in the world (and in football) since I wrote that. Yet, here we are, still celebrating Super Bowl Sunday, so I thought I’d revisit the relationship between God and the Super Bowl. I’ll put my cards on the table: despite the passage of time and the evolution in the sport, I think God still loves football.

I think God still loves football because it is still the most beautiful, most compelling game on the planet. Basketball is entertaining, but not enough to hold my attention for a whole season. I love my UVA Cavaliers, but I never start paying attention to them until March Madness, because even a basketball team I have a vested interest in isn’t worth dedicating several months of my life to. Baseball is a great antidote for insomnia, even with the introduction of the pitch clock, because it is impossible for me to make it through an entire game and remain conscious. And I cannot watch hockey or soccer without a serious risk of death, from boredom.

But football is so beautiful, so compelling, I pay attention to the entire NFL season. The whole sport is an aesthetic wonder. The seemingly effortless flick of a pass that goes seventy yards and lands exactly over the back shoulder of a wide receiver streaking down a sideline. The bruising progress of a running back who refuses to go down, through layer after layer of hulking human beings trying in vain to end his progress. The jolt of surprise at a fake punt, the elegance of an edge rusher sacking the quarterback off his blind side. The palpable build of energy as a team seizes momentum and takes over a game. The exhilaration of a tied game that goes down to the final two-minute drive. Football is about so much more than brute force on force. There is physical, cerebral, and emotional beauty in football.

The brevity of the NFL season, even with the recent addition of an additional week, means every matchup is important. It is a profound reminder of our own mortality; as the Apostle Paul suggests, every moment of life should be a dogged pursuit of our life’s goals (Philippians 3:12–14). College and NFL teams run their race, as their seasons test their focus, their perseverance, their endurance, and their mental toughness. Nobody rotates in and out of games, like baseball pitchers. Nobody takes a game off just to rest, like in the NBA. Players play every game they can because every game matters, every game is an opportunity to make a difference. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, in football or in life.

Because football is so beautiful and compelling, I watch it as much as possible in the fall. I will enthusiastically turn on a pro or college game when I have absolutely nothing to root for in that game. I will even give the rebooted USFL another try, because they are offering me football in the spring! And I will watch the Super Bowl, even though my team is not in it and the game is on CBS, and Tony Romo’s inadequate preparation and grating vocal mannerisms infuriate me. I will watch, because football is a thing of beauty, a divine wonder to behold.

I also think God still loves football because gathering around a game is a chance to celebrate family and fellowship. Football is best experienced in community—as long as those you are communing with in your living room don’t talk through the entire game. Football symbolizes God’s gift of human connection because of how important those connections are to being a football fan.

We all know that our country is exponentially more divided today than it was seven or eight years ago. Friends and families are divided by political loyalties and ideologies. Lifelong relationships have been infected with the intolerance that is now the heart of our politics. If we manage to keep our family relationships and friendships above that anger and suspicion, it’s usually because we agree not to talk about certain things, which means that our divisive politics is still having an effect on us: it’s dictating how much of ourselves we share with one another. It’s undermining the depth of our relationships, of our experience of community.

But football gives us hope for a future in which this is not the case, because when it comes to football, many Americans who may not agree on political topics have no problem throwing their arms around each other at a game. Football reminds us there are many things that bind us together, even in this age when public figures emphasize our divisions and stoke us into seeing each other as enemies. Football fans who are really different from one another still share a bond in the love of their team.

Football is a reminder of how much binds us together with other human beings, a reminder we desperately need in these dark times.

Take my team, the Steelers, as an example. “Steeler Nation” is just that, a legion of fans all over the country. Obviously, we don’t all know each other, and we don’t have everything in common. (The majority of Steelers fans in the area where I was raised do not share my politics, for instance.) But if I know you are a Steelers fan, I don’t care about your politics, at least for that moment. If you are a Steelers fan, you are my brother or sister. I have had this experience over and over again, since I have lived most of my adult life in exile from western Pennsylvania. Here I am in Patriots country, and I pull up to a gas pump and see a truck with a Steelers bumper sticker. Or the other driver will notice I’m wearing a Steelers hat. And we will instantly have a moment of solidarity. This guy I have never met before in my life will start talking me up about the Steelers record, their off-season moves, or how happy we are that the Patriots suck now. He won’t ask me who I voted for. He won’t ask me what I think about abortion, immigration, or gun control. For that moment, we will bond over our shared love and identity. We will find community in being Steelers fans.

Football is a reminder of how much binds us together with other human beings, a reminder we desperately need in these dark times. There are some things that make us kin to other people despite our differences. To my mind, that reminder is also pretty important to what it means to be the Church. Church is the community that, despite all of the differences it hosts, is bound together in one identity as the Body of Christ. I may not know you at all, but if I know you are a Christian, you are my family.

Football reminds us that in life, and especially in church, we ought to be able to disagree and still value being in community with one another, still value the common identity binding us together. Steelers fans are like that. Steelers fans disagree about a lot of important things. Is Mike Tomlin a Hall of Fame coach, or should the Steelers have fired him two years ago? Is Kenny Pickett really the quarterback of the future, or is Mason Rudolph, or should we move up in the draft to get a real one? If you think these are trivial matters, you don’t know Steelers fans. Other fans of other teams have their rabid disagreements. But you know what? They often disagree about these really important things and still tailgate together on game day.

Likewise, we in the church should be able to disagree about a whole lot of things and still break bread with one another, still recognize one another as kin in Christ. All of these denominational splits that have been happening—Presbyterians went through it several years ago, the Methodists are going through it now—grieve God, because despite our differences, we have a responsibility to stay in community with one another. It’s called being the Body of Christ. That’s what should hold us together. Steelers fans don’t create factions in the fan base because they disagree about who should be the new offensive coordinator. They may see the sport differently than others, but they are all still members of the Black and Gold. In the same way, I believe that church divisions grieve God, because underneath all of our disagreements we are supposed to be one, because “there is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4–6).

Finally, I believe God still loves football because football can be a symbol of the fundamental truth of Christian faith that nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). Football is not the same sport it was in 2016 or whenever it was I first preached that sermon. In many ways, football has strayed from the righteous path: the transfer portal and NIL money that threaten to ruin college football. The rule changes that make it impossible to play defense in the NFL. The near-abandonment of run-dominated offenses, bad officiating, analytics—no, Dan Campbell, you should not go for it on fourth down four times in an NFC Championship Game! Kick some field goals! And yet, we still watch. Those of us who love football still watch, even though the game makes decisions we think are bad for it, even when it seems like the game doesn’t care about us anymore. We still watch, because football may stray from us, but we will never give up on football.

That’s a fitting reminder of God’s commitment to us. We stray from God’s intentions; we make decisions and follow priorities that God knows are not good for us. We try to separate ourselves from God, but God refuses to go anywhere. Despite all our mistakes, despite all the ways we insinuate that we don’t care what God thinks about the lives we lead, God still watches. God still watches over us, cares for us, roots for us, and waits for the moment when we will return to something that resembles more the lives God meant us to live. God is faithful—more faithful, patient, and loving than even a Steelers fan waiting for his team to get back to winning playoff games.

God still loves football, because football holds the potential to tell us important things about the steadfastness of God, the beauty in this world, the importance of the ties that bind us to one another, and the potential in the church to witness to true community. God also still loves football because football is fun, and capacity for fun is one of the greatest gifts God has given us. So if you have plans to sit down in front of the Super Bowl today, I hope you have fun. And I hope you take time to give thanks to God for all the good gifts God has given us, including the people enjoying the game with you, near and far. Amen.