Super Bowl XXIII is in the history books now. It was a thriller and both winners and losers can take pride in their performances. One of the consequences of the Super Bowl each year is that everything else pretty much comes to a grinding halt on the evening of the event. Churches in America recognized almost from the start that church as usual was going to meet fierce competition on Super Bowl Sundays. So what did they do? They annexed the evening and adapted to the secular culture. It has happened many times through the history of Western Christianity. Now, especially youth gather in great numbers to watch the game and have a great, wholesome party together. Where? At church, of course. And after 43 years of this, the tradition is firmer than ever before.

     I have a modest proposal. Why don’t we move up the season of Lent and start it on the day after the Super bowl? Lent is the beginning of the liturgical year for most Christian churches in the Catholic tradition. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, Anglicans and others observe the season as a time for fasting, prayer, self examination, repentance—all in preparation for celebrating resurrection on Easter Sunday. Lent always begins on Ash Wednesday. This year it falls on February 25. It lasts 40 days not counting Sundays because each Sunday represents a mini-Easter. This year Lent ends on Holy Saturday, April 11. Why not start the season a few weeks earlier, following the almost universal evening of fun and revelry on the planet now—the Super Bowl?

     Folk in places that have unique traditions could continue those. New Orleans and their Mardi Gras, for example. If it were going to become a universal Carnival, that would have already happened by now. This is probably just as well since Mardi Gras, is a descendant of old fertility rites celebrating the coming of spring and the rebirth of vegetation. Fat Tuesday could still continue for those who wish. That is the tradition in which the people of the church joyfully feast on pancakes on the night before Ash Wednesday. All these traditions could continue. But, don’t you think, with all the problems we have in the world, we could use a little more prayer and meditation?

     How about a week of focus on living a simpler life? All of us are being forced to live on less. Less money to shelter, feed, clothe and educate our families. Less money to help others more at risk than we. Less money to spend improving the standard of living for us all.

     Most of us would do well to pray for a week about the wages of war. We know that the wages of sin are death. Who can afford that? But the costs of war are incalculable too. How about a week of prayer, meditation and study about peacemaking? The Prince of Peace said the peacemakers are blessed.

     The sick. Who’s praying for the sick? How often do we pray for those who spend their genius in the laboratory seeking cures? What disease could not be cured for the cost of a discretionary little war somewhere?

     The day after the Super Bowl is currently called Groundhog Day. We wait to see if the fat little fellow pokes his head out of his burrow so we can get a heads up about the weather forecast. My guess is that if we could have a conversation with Punxsutawney Phil, he would say we’ve got bigger things to worry about this year than the weather!

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