Why Churches Should Cancel Evening Service and Have a Super Bowl Party

I’m bound to get into a lot of trouble with just about everyone for this post. My really spiritual friends will lie about how they’d rather be “with their church family in a worship service” than watching the Super Bowl. Some of my Reformed friends will be mad that I’m suggesting we approve of football on “the Sabbath.” But I think it would be a really good thing to replace evening service (if you even have one of those evil things), just one time a year, with a Super Bowl party. My Reformed friends can even have beer, and my Baptists friends can have pop (soda, coke, whatever). Of course, given my schizophrenia on the whole Reformed/Baptist issue, I think that leaves me with a digusting can of O’Douls or something.* [Update: The schizophrenia is now over; I'm a Presbyterian now]
It used to be my sincere belief that, if we were really (and I mean really, really) good Christians, things like the Super Bowl wouldn’t matter so much. To not have a regular evening service would be to say that God wasn’t as important as football that night. (Because, clearly, God commands two worship services on Sunday…it’s in there somewhere). Besides, we might be tempted to get drunk by watching beer commercials, so we should avoid the televised event altogether. So good, moral Christians forget about the Super Bowl and go to church that night. It’s a sacrifice we must make, but if we really are Christians, we’ll be willing to make it. And as a Pharisee, since attendance at evening service was an important rule for true believers, I would be absolutely certain to tell you (or at least talk about you behind your back) that your desire to stay at home with your dad whom you rarely get to spend quality time with and watch the Super Bowl was misplaced, and you should invite your dad to evening service instead. After all, you can only honor God by doing religious things.

By no means do I intend to downplay the absolute significance of corporate worship. But the thing that Pharisees like me never realized was that it is, in fact, possible – and even right and good – to spend God-honoring quality time with family and with church family outside of the actual worship
service. God can be honored (I believe) by Christians getting together and enjoying the Super Bowl. God is not missing something He needs by our changing one evening service a year into a fun time of fellowship. Have we become so gnostic that only “spiritual” things can honor God? I’m afraid many of us have.

If you do, indeed, prefer to go to evening service over the Super Bowl, that’s fine. But let’s not look
down on others who miss evening service that night. They’re just as Christian, just as accepted in Christ, and believe it or not, they’re probably not home sinning. They probably just want some good time with family and friends, and events like the Super Bowl (once a year) provide excellent opportunities for such time. Would that more churches realized this and took the time to get together with other church members, family, friends, gather ’round the TV for a sports match, and
had some fun together.

*(Just for the record, I’m “Reformed,” not “Baptist,” on the alcohol issue, and I’ve never touched O’Douls and never will…but that’s another Recovering Pharisee Confession for another time).