Super Bowl XLVII
03/02/13 05:27
For more than a decade we have observed a sort of super bowl tradition at our church. One of our members would sign up to be the liturgist on the day of the big game and I would write a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the match-up using a few Biblical references. The big game today offers a lopsided match up when it comes to Biblical terms. The 49ers are favored by many to win the game, but where would one find a reference to a 49er in the Bible? Ravens, on the other hand, make several appearances in the Bible. Among the minor references to ravens, mention is made of their color and their habits. Probably the most famous reference to ravens in the Bible is Luke 12:24: “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” It isn’t really a very flattering reference, really.
I suppose that were I to be writing such a commentary for this year’s Super Bowl, I would probably end up with the simple thing to do when a number is involved. Since contemporary Bibles are divided into numbered chapters with numbered verses, there are lots of 49’s in the Bible. Jacob blesses his sons in Genesis 49. Psalm 49 warns of people who have wealth but lack understanding. Isaiah 49 addresses the call of the prophet and the purpose of his message.
The number 49, however, has an even more prominent role in Old Testament Theology. It is the year of the Jubilee or, in certain interpretations, the year preceding the jubilee. 49 is 7 times 7 and whenever 7 times 7 years rolls around, there is to be a year when cropland is left fallow to restore itself, persons who are enslaved for unpaid debts are freed and there is a general amnesty in a wide variety of agricultural and business activities. The basic concept is that perpetual slavery and debts without end weigh down a society.
The name of the San Francisco 49ers comes from the fortune seekers who rushed to the California gold fields in 1849. The connection with the name and football makes sense only if you consider that the team has been based in San Francisco for all of its existence. Unlike other teams that have changed cities, the 49ers have always been based in San Francisco and thus have kept the association between their name and the state of California and, in some sense, the folks who settled there after the 1849 gold rush.
The Ravens, on the other hand got both a new name and a new city in 1996 when Art Modell, owner of the Cleveland Browns announced his intention to relocate the team from Cleveland to Baltimore. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue promised the city of Cleveland that the Browns’ name, colors, uniform design and franchise records would never leave the city. Modell persisted, the team left the town and thus got a new name and new colors when they got to Baltimore. There aren’t any fans of the Ravens in Cleveland and Cleveland is the home to the United Church of Christ’s national offices. Church House, our national home, is connected to the Radisson Gateway Hotel, which is across the street from the stadium where the Browns play. For three years, from 1996 to 1999, there were no Cleveland Browns. Cleveland returned to the NFL in 1999 with high hopes and expectations and a very wealthy owner. The first few seasons, however, featured a pretty awful team.
So there are no fans of the Baltimore Ravens in Cleveland and Cleveland is home to the United Church of Christ’s national offices. So you might expect members of the United Church of Christ to naturally tend to cheer for the 49ers. Which would be the case except that we are the United Church of Christ. Our members and congregations are fiercely independent. We don’t take kindly to instructions coming down from our national offices. In fact, our denomination has been described as an inverted pyramid, with the local congregations at the top and the employees in the church’s national setting taking orders from everyone else in the church. That may be a bit of an exaggeration, but don’t expect agreement in the United Church of Christ about which football team deserves to win the Lombardy Trophy.
Like many in our church, I have no particular loyalty to either team. I’ll probably watch the game, or at least part of it simply because it has become such a national icon. Too many conversations center on the game in the next week for me to ignore it. Part of being a pastor is sharing the lives of the people I am called to serve and a lot of those people will be watching the Super Bowl today.
I enjoy the notion of New Orleans playing host to a national event and would much prefer watching a football game in the Superdome than the frantic an all-together inadequate attempts to provide shelter to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. It is good to see the city coming back from the devastating storm and able to be the focus of celebration and leisure once again. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a lot of work to be done. Indeed there is. But for today the attention will be focused on sports instead of rebuilding. Every city deserves a day off from the hard work of making repairs and preparations for the next storm. Hurricane season has passed, the levies are holding and it should be a good day in New Orleans. In addition to hosting the national party, the city should make a few dollars from all of the fans streaming to the city. A little economic boost won’t hurt the city in the least.
So enjoy the game. Watch the ads. Have a party and eat some fun food. But don’t over do it. When all is said and done it’s only a game. And when the game is over there’s still plenty of work to be done.