Did God Die on the Football Field?

Last week, Stephen Colbert, who has a long running and hilarious bias against bears, claimed that "If Saints can't beat Bears, then God is officially dead."

Well, as you know, the Bears won. You can watch Colbert's report of the Saints' loss here.

In the wake of this victory and as the Bears head to the Super Bowl, I'm not quite ready to pronounce God dead. (For a conversation about the death of God completely different from Colbert's, check out Death of God Theology.) I am, however, quite interested in some of the issues that Colbert's statement raises.

As usual, Colbert's satire strikes at the heart of some deeply held American attitudes. Many people do indeed think of sports in a theological or spiritual way. Most certainly, football is one of the sacred rites of American civil religion; the Super Bowl is practically a national holiday.

And last Sunday's contest between our hometown Bears and the New Orleans Saints did take on something of a religious urgency for some. Many had christened the Saints as "America's Team". The Saints' "worst to first" season was viewed by many as a reflection of New Orleans' recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. At the very least, it was suggested that a Saints Super Bowl appearance would provide much needed hope for a recovering city.

Before the game on Sunday, we discussed this issue in Senior Highs. We asked some good questions and made some good observations, some of which I want to share here.

Does God really care who wins this football game?
While we were almost unanimously passionate in our support of the Bears, most of us agreed that in the grand scheme of things, this game was trivial and didn't really matter. Especially compared to the real problems the world is facing, including those in a still struggling New Orleans, a game between a bunch of ridiculously overpaid athletes doesn't seem so important.

However, this question did give us an opportunity to think about that oh so Presbyterian doctrine of providence. Does God control the outcome of football games? Did God pick who would win and who would lose? Why do we pray before athletic competitions? Answers for these questions were harder to come by, but made for a great discussion.

The Saints and New Orleans
While most of us could appreciate why a Saints victory would be an inspiring thing for New Orleans, we also recognized that the problems in New Orleans are much bigger than a football game and that a victory here or in the Super Bowl could never come close to fixing those problems. In fact, some of us felt that the hoopla over the Saints was actually giving a false impression about New Orleans' recovery. There is still much to do and we all need to pitch in to help.

Several people were also dubious about lifting up these incredibly rich athletes as the providers of hope for a hurting city. By comparison to the masses, these players were largely unaffected by Katrina. The real heroes are the survivors and those who have given so much of themselves to help those in need.

Sports as a Metaphor for Faith
We also had a good conversation about sports as a metaphor for the life of faith and looked at some biblical passages that use athletic metaphors very effectively.

Is God Officially Dead?
I don't think so. I certainly don't think that the Bears' victory or the Saints' loss is proof of anything. Much more important, I think, is what happens to New Orleans in the long run. If we don't come together to pull New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast up from ruins, it might not be a signal of God's death but it would certainly have something to say about our willingness to listen to God's call to love our neighbors as ourselves.