Today is, among many things, a sad day.   In about ten hours there will be no football for about five months.    There will be no Sunday Kickoffs, no Monday Night football,…Its all over.

Now is the official start of a small period of morning, between now and opening day for baseball….  Which interestingly enough is a game between the Sox and Yankees.

When all is said and done, the Super Bowl is a moment in our culture where everything stops for a few hours…In the end, one cant help but step back and say there is something bizarre about this Sunday…  Consider these facts…

• Tonight…One Billion people will tune into the Superbowl.
• There will be 7.5 million superbowl parties with 44 million people attending.
• 1.5 million television sets will be sold in the week prior to the superbowl.
• Tonite, 8 million pounds of Guacamole will be consumed.
• With the guacamole, 14500 tons of potato chips will be eaten.
• Tomorrow, there will be a 20% increase in Antacids sales.
• There will also be a 30% increase in absence at work on Monday.

I don’t know about you, but it strikes me as a bit odd that the world goes a little crazy tonite.

I was reading an article in Christianity Today, where a sociologist presented an intriguing argument suggesting that there only remains two primary avenues of establishing a group identity in the US;   the first is your support of a particular sport team, and second; church.

He wrote that becoming part of any community is difficult.   Any community that you find yourself trying to be a part of, has a set of unwritten rules and beliefs.   Part of the difficulty is navigating yourself through learning these rules.

He claims that with sports it becomes easy.   You can walk into a stadium of 60,000 fans and all you need to do is put on a jersey or a ball cap and youre in.   Truth be told, you don’t need to know anything about the team, the rules, the players, or the rules….all you need to do is follow the cheers and the screams of the people wearing the same color shirt as you,…and your in.

As I was reading this article, I couldn’t help but ask,…what are those secret rules, beliefs and behaviors that you find in this place. 

We cant put on a jersey, and instantly fit.

We cant put on a ball cap, and feel at home.

So What is our identity?

After thinking about this, I realized the answer is an easy one.   We are people of faith.    Our faith defines us.  

For us its not about what we wear, or what we look like… Our faith is about we do.   Its about acting with our faith first….and what that looks like is easy to see.

Our faith, says that we are people who worship, celebrate, fellowship, and sometimes cry together…yet in the end,…it begins with a simple act of opening yourself, and your life to others…   It begins with being willing to take on the burdens of another, or to stand alongside them in moments of celebration or in pain.   It means reaching out our hand to another, and saying you fit.