There’s no night like Super Bowl night. As the game kicked off, people all over this
great nation huddled around televisions to catch the ‘Big Game.’ Many parties made it quite clear who was
invited…and who was not!
·
Some parties were all about the commercials. The Super Bowl has a reputation of spawning
very clever ads and people didn’t want to miss out. This isn’t a party where you can just get up
and head to the restroom once a time-out is called. You’d get in the way of the screen and might
get tossed from the party!
·
Other parties endured the football game to see
Madonna (and all those other famous folks) at the halftime show. People might have been milling about during
the game, but once the music started all eyes focused on the screen. This wouldn’t be the party to start a
monologue about the “Peyton vs. Eli Manning debate: who is the more elite
quarterback?” Nobody would listen…or
care. It’s also not the party to ask ‘ignorant
questions’ like, “Who is that guy singing with Madonna?” Really, you SHOULD know these things!
·
Many parties use the Super Bowl as an excuse to
get together, but people really have no interest in turning the TV on. They just enjoy a night of food, friends, and
conversation. They might even break into
a game of cards! If you insisted on
sitting alone in front of the TV, people would find you to be a party-pooper.
·
Surprisingly, some Super Bowl parties actually have
people who want to watch football! These
are people with high ‘football IQs’ who discuss the finer points of the game. This isn’t the crowd to ask, “Refresh my
memory, what is a first down??”
·
New York Giants fans gathered in parties
surrounded by other Giants fans. I’ve
known enough New Yorkers over the years to know that ANYONE rooting against the
Giants would get instantly booted from the room!
·
Some parties (like the one I was at on Sunday) include
a variety of people who come for many different reasons, but nobody is made to
feel guilty for not being just like everyone else in the room.
Over the years I’ve found myself at Super Bowl parties where
I knew I didn’t really belong…because I’m a football guy! I’ve been that party-pooper who wouldn’t play
cards during the game. I’ve ignored the
halftime show…when everyone else raved about it. I’ve talked during commercials, only to be ‘shushed.’
I watched the Super Bowl with some Giants fans back in 1991..ugh!
How do your Super Bowl parties include…or exclude…people?
Every Sunday Christian churches around this great nation
gather for worship…a weekly ‘party.’ Many
of these parties make it clear who is invited…and who is not!
·
Churches often have unwritten ‘rules’ regarding
when people stand…what they say in worship…where they go for communion. Someone who doesn’t know these ‘rules’ will
stand out like a sore thumb and feel like an unwelcome idiot.
·
Churches in this nation tend to gather along
racial and socio-economic lines. People
with ‘light skin’ can be made to feel uncomfortable in a church of ‘dark
skinned’ people…and vice versa. People
ask, “What are they doing here? Don’t
they have their own church to go to?”
·
Some churches frown on any ‘kid noise’ upsetting
the atmosphere of the worship service.
At the first peep people start turning around and staring.
·
Some churches hold to a strong sense of morality
and shun those who have made poor choices in their lives.
·
When churches gather to study the Bible, people
often assume a deep knowledge of Scripture.
The person who struggles to even find the right page can feel like an
idiot.
When Jesus walked this earth he spent his time with the ‘outsiders’:
prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers, fishermen, and terrorists. Jesus didn’t exclude anyone…Jesus’ church doesn’t
have that same track record! One one point or another, most of us have felt like that 'poor schmuck' who didn't really fit in.
How have the congregations in your life worked to include…or
exclude…people?
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