Despite wanting to call Waste Management to see if they were able to handle all of the trash talk taking place on sports radio and the Internet this week, there is no doubt that “the game” is big, generating a religious fervor that the church in Wisconsin — and elsewhere — wishes it could generate.
If there were a Pentecost equivalent to “the game,” the flames would be green and gold and the apostles would be wearing the jerseys of Donald Driver, Charles Woodson, Tramon Williams, Clay Matthews, A.J. Hawk, B.J. Raji, Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, Sam Shields, Desmond Bishop (how appropriate!), Chad Clifton and Bryan Bulaga.
I am certain “the game” will work its way into liturgical celebrations this weekend. Packer gold stole worn with the green chasuble? How about a homiletic reference to the game, linking it to the second reading — “… that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose” (1 Cor 10)? A petition in the Prayer of the Faithful? A “Go, Pack, Go!” reference — maybe the chant itself — before the dismissal? And the recessional hymn — “If A-Rod is For Us, Who Can Be Against?” I hope so.
Imagine if the NFL had scheduled “the game” for Sunday morning. Saturday and Sunday evening Masses would have been SRO, and the morning Masses would have had so few people they could have been celebrated in chapels.
I’m just hoping that come Sunday evening, we’re preparing for another two weeks of this.
For another dose of sports as religion, visit https://catholicherald.org/component/poll/64-sundays-packers-bears-game-has-taken-on-a-religious-fervor-what-is-your-take-on-it.html.
