Am I responsible for the Super Bowl Half Time Show?
But, am I - a Christian - responsible to do something about the Super Bowl half time show?
Stand up for what you believe. Switch the channel. Write a letter. Boycott a product. Ban this. Bash that. Again, you've read it all. I get it. But the question still begs to be asked: "Am I responsible for the Super Bowl half time show?"
I'm often caught off guard at moments like these when conservative values are being lifted as the cultural norm setting a Christian narrative off like wildfire. The bottom line is that the cultural norm will never be a Christian norm.
Let me be clear. I am a Christian. I realize that my value system usually swims upstream to the world around me. I don't live an insular life. I love my community and participate in making mine a better place to live. However, I do not expect my value system to be the norm outside of my faith community. To think it should is to be naive. However, to hope I can make a difference is the very essence of my faith. To believe the One I put my faith in can transform my community is to excersise radical faith - the kind of faith that says a mustard seed can do some pretty big things.
Jesus hung out with sinners. Jesus went to places the religious thought impious and unworthy for the godliness of men to stumble into. Jesus didn't ban their meeting places - He transformed them!
So what the heck does that mean for me, living in 2020, when the Super Bowl half time show reflects a very different moral compass than my own? To sit back and do nothing is not an attitude I'm touting as a means to combat the moral standard. But it has to start in other places long before the Super Bowl. Christianity isn't about behavior modification. Christianity is about loving God and sharing His love with a world in desperate need to find Him through our actions, words, and open mouths ready for honest conversations. Yes, there are absolutes. Yes, there are moral conducts prescribed in the Bible. But should we require "the world" to abide by those? Are we to judge the world?
Romans 13: 11-14 says:
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber,because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.[c]This was written to Christians. Are we to ask "the world" to abide by the same standards? We are if we are asking for behavior modification. But what if we were praying for soul transformation? What if we cared for the very soul of our neighbor, our city leaders, and our Super Bowl performers to experience the greatest love of all time and be transformed by the love of God?
I'm not saying critics of the Super Bowl half time show are not praying and caring for participants. What I am saying is that we who love Jesus have a calling: to love others and engage in our community with the practical and tangible love of Christ. He is the great transformer.
What if scandalous Super Bowl half time shows caused a great waking from the slumber of Christian communities to see the importance of really knowing their salvation? What if we, first, put aside our own deeds of darkness and put on an armour of light? What would it look like to start clothing ourselves in Jesus Christ and not think about how to gratify our own desires of the flesh? Would we be more involved in civic affairs? Would we be more active in our schools? Would we love our neighbor? Would we foster children, feed the homeless, and get involved in local politics to be agents of change for the greater good of humanity? Would we be more patient with other Christians? Would we get honest about our own addictions, emotional issues, and hang ups that keep us from living our full potential in Jesus? I'm not talking compromising who we are nor the Biblical standards by which we live. I'm talking being more like Jesus.
Being more like Jesus, for those who say they belong to Him, is the answer to not just the Super Bowl half time shows, becoming more like Jesus is the answer to transforming the cultural norm!
So, no ... no I am not responsible - as a Christian - for the Super Bowl half time show. I am, however, responsible for being used by God to be an agent of His love which transforms the world around me,
Christina
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