Well, here we are reaching the mid-point of football season. By this point, we probably have a fairly good sense of how successful our teams will be this year. For those of us with good teams, we are probably just as excited about each game as we were prior to the start of the season. Others of us who are witnessing our teams struggle may find it hard to support our team each week because we are not finding as much joy in watching our team struggle. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning "fair weather fanhood" by any means. I'm simply acknowledging the ease and difficulty of being a fan depending on how our teams perform. In my last post, I drew similarities between tailgating activities and church ministries. This week, I'd like to take an even closer look at the life of a consistent football fan compared to the life of a consistent Christian.
First, I'd like to suggest that "true" football fans support their teams by utilizing whatever means necessary in order to be "in the know" with their teams. Such means might be watching the daily sports news, reading the daily sports page, checking other forums of information, playing fantasy football, etc. Needless to say, there are countless avenues for a fan to stay connected to the goings-on of his or her team. Why do fans do this, though? I might argue that this connectivity to the team gives the fan a deeper sense of belonging to the team and more credibility in his or her fanhood. Another reason fans might do this because they find a sense of joy in being a part of something bigger than themselves. Given the scope of football in this country, I'd certainly agree that it is certainly bigger than any one person. Both of these reasons (deeper sense of belonging and being part of something bigger than one's self) are quite transferable to being a committed Christian.
If we, as football fans, can spend time doing all of these different things outside of simply watching our teams play, shouldn't we be able to do things outside of simply showing up for church on Sunday? I'd like to think so. With this in mind, I'd like to suggest the following as possible ways for us to be "fans" of Christ between church services. We may do things as simple as morning and/or night prayer and saying grace before meals. We may also look to do more formal praying such as the rosary, reading the daily scriptures, Eucharistic adoration, receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation, or attending daily mass. Lastly, we can always utilize the technological world we live in and follow good Christian new sources on Facebook, Twitter, etc. in order to stay connected to what's happening in our global Christian community. All of these are simply suggestions, and I am not saying that we jump in to trying to do all of them at once. However, I think that if we can become routine in doing a couple of them earnestly, we will find that we gain a deeper sense of belonging to God as well as recognizing that we are a small but vital part of something so much bigger than ourselves.
So, in conclusion, just like being a football fan, we will go through periods of our Christian lives where we find it both easy and difficult to live out and practice our faith. However, we have enormous comfort in knowing that God instilled in each of us a longing for love because God is love, and we were all created in God's image and likeness. Because of this, God will never cease to be "fans" of us, so how could we ever cease to be "fans" of God? Always remember, with God we NEVER lose.
May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.
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