Tailgating with the Spirit - Part 1

Well, here we are in what many people consider to be the best season of the year: American football season.  This season brings with it much excitement as the heat of summer moves into the more pleasant air of fall.  Several years ago, I started noticing certain nuances about the football environment that should translate well into our respective church environments.  I'd like to look at these nuances in a series of posts that will take us deeper into football season but hopefully even deeper still into the heart of the Spirit of God. These nuances will also attempt to build a bridge between this secular season of excitement into the sacred perpetual season of joy.  In this week's post, I will look at the nuance of the stadium gathering.

Each week across the country, thousands upon thousands of people come together to rally around their teams  (Who Dat! and Geaux Tigers!).  This is remarkable when we stop to think about it.  Large stadiums across the country hold anywhere from 75,000 to over 100,000 people at a time.  There are cities where these stadiums reside whose populations explode when these stadiums reach full capacity on game days.  This increase in size brings amazing energy, enthusiasm, and excitement (not to mention traffic) to these towns each week.  However, what amazes me the most about these large gatherings is the overall ability of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, political backgrounds, and faith backgrounds to put aside their differences (whether directly or indirectly) to focus on one common factor: cheering on their teams hopefully to victory.  This ability of people to lay aside their differences for a common purpose gives me great hope for the human race. I do, however, recognize that each fan base has its fair share of instigators who divert from the positive goal of the group.  These instigators simply remind me that we live in an imperfect world that continues to need our help and compassion.  Yet, if we can rally around our football teams in this way, how much better might it be if we gathered around our churches in similar ways?

Now, how does this secular gathering build a bridge to the sacred gathering we call church?  Well, we can start by drawing the similarities between a stadium and a church.  Both are built to accommodate a large group of people.  Both a stadium and a church contain seating that surrounds a central focus (i.e. the field and the altar).  [Note: Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, many churches were built in a more circular fashion as opposed to the previous more rectangular design.]  Both, when filled, contain people who contribute to the activity at hand in uniform ways such as participating in cheers or prayers; band songs or choir refrains; and standing, sitting, or kneeling.  This being said, though, maybe we should next ask the following question: if the common factor at a football game is to rally people together in support of their team, then, what is the common factor that should draw people to church?  As a Catholic Christian, I might suggest that our common factor is to rally around the Eucharistic table of God where we celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation (God becoming human) and humbly give thanks with one another for God's blessings and forgiveness in our lives.  I like to think that this common factor should only increase our ability to put aside our differences so that we might love God with all our being and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.  So, as we prepare to celebrate next week with our fellow fans, let's remember that the celebration in church should be even more rewarding than our football games.  Why?  Because with God, we never lose.

Next week, I'll attempt to look at the participation in tailgating vs. the participation in ministries.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.