Are you ready for some Football?
Super Bowl Sunday is over for another year. There is so much hoopla that the game has become almost an afterthought. Commercials, half-time entertainment, pre-game drama dominate the airwaves for days. We plan elaborate parties, create special dishes, and listen for hours on end to prognosticators and celebrities predict the victor. This year we even had a Super Bowl Red Carpet, analysts predicting the winner by comparing the player’s girlfriends, and politicians calling for Congressional investigations into stealing sideline signals. Finally the game is played, and we experience a huge letdown. Like little children after unwrapping all the presents under the Christmas tree asking, “Is this all?”
This year the minimum ticket price exceeded $700. Imagine what a good ticket costs. We honor Christmas in the same way. Did we as a nation spend more than last year? Headlines read, “ Christmas season dissapoints! Only 4% growth in spending portends layoffs and lower stock prices.” The build up, the hype, and the anticipation dominate. Christmas itself gets lost.
Thank God for the Lenten season! We don’t have any TV commercials hyping prayer, fasting and meditation. Each day we feel better, not anxious. We begin to experience a calm. Simplicity begins to free us from our material culture. Lent honors and leads us to Easter. It doesn’t take away from it.
Lent, like Christ’s message, turns our world and culture upside down. If it caught on across the U.S., Congress would have to pass legislation banning it. This Lenten season enjoy being a radical. Webb
P.S. It was one hell of a game.
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