Liturgy of the Empire

I like sports.  I guess the more accurate statement would be that I love sports but love seems like such a strong word for such a silly thing.

Yet for most of my life this silly thing has tugged at my emotions, sent me over the edge, and caused jubilee that has had me hugging strangers.

In 1997 I remember watching the Bulls win their 5^th championship and standing out on Irving Park Road as cars honked at our celebration sign.

In 2001 I remember jumping on my couch as I watched Bears safety Mike Brown make 2 game winning overtime interceptions.  I also remember shedding a couple tears when the Bears lost to the Eagles in the playoffs.

In 2005 I remember running down the ramps of US Cellular Field to see Joe Crede hit a home run to beat the Indians to push the team into the playoffs.  I remember running block after block in downtown Chicago to meet my brother Ross and watch the last out to the White Sox winning the World Series.

In 2010 I remember opening my wedding presents in joy while at the same time angrily yelling at the TV that Lebron James was taking his “talents to South Beach” instead of Lake Michigan.

In 2011 I remember going to Indianapolis and loudly taunting Pacers fans but then quietly wandering the streets of Indy after the Bulls lost.

In 2012, 2013, and 2014 I remember sitting and sulking over Derrick Rose’s continuous flow of injuries.

I can remember years of my life based on things that have happened in sports. 

But something hit me last night while watching the Bulls play the Milwaukee Bucks.  During the game a Bucks player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, made a dirty play on Jimmy Butler.  I was furious and all of a sudden this feeling of hate sunk into my gut.  Not just a “I don’t like that guy” feeling but a “that man is a terrible human being” feeling. 

In reality I like Giannis (nicknamed the Greek Freak).  He is fun to watch, tries super hard, and is a good basketball player.  But I still had this feeling of hate for him.

As I was texting about this hatred to my “Bulls Fanatics” group text, my friend pointed out that this happens every playoffs.  We begin to hate the opposing players, we begin to hate the opposing team.  He was right!  During the NBA playoffs throughout my life I’ve hated the Pistons, Knicks, Lakers, Heat, Caviliers, Pacers, Wizards, and now the Bucks, to name a few.

This morning it hit me that sports brings out this “US VS. THEM” mentality.  This mentality that if they are not us then I hate them!  Because they are not us I hate them.  Because they are not US I will never accept THEM.  When I see a basketball player in a different colored jersey other than my team I begin to form this hatred for them because that’s who they are, a “them”. 

My embracing of the US causes the hatred of the Them.

A couple weeks ago I was at a conference and heard Old Testament expert Walter Brueggemann talk about Empire.  Through his time he was talking about how the Empire=Totalism.  To make a very short summary of a complicated topic, his point was that we live in a world of Empires.  Empires control everything, they have total control over our money, ideology, imagination, the way we operate our lives.

He explained that there has always been an Empire; Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Rome!  The Israelites constatly lived in this battle, the way of God or the way of the Empire.  Today there is still Empires and the one that is the most successful goes by the name of America!

Later in another one of his talks he brought up how sports are the liturgy of the Empire.  This knocked me over!  His point was that when we get enveloped by sports (cheering on our team, hating the other team) we are giving our minds, emotions, and hearts over to the Empire!  By living and dying by the score of a game we aren’t processing our lives through Christ but only through the way of the Empire.

This scared me.  Right as he said it I had this awakening, he’s right.  When I give my mind, emotions, and heart over to watching a sports game I’m putting my Christian mind, emotions, and heart on mute.  Most of the shirts I wear are advertisements or loyalities to my team.  Most of the things I talk about with my friends and brothers are about sports.  Most of what I watch and are entertained by are my teams.

In the Empire of Rome they had sports too.  There sport of choice was cheering on a Gladiator fight.  Instead of cheering when someone scored the winning shot, the Romans would cheer when someone made the death shot.  The Romans would cheer on their ‘us’ gladiator while cheering on with hate the ‘them’ gladiator, screaming for their death.  The Roman Empire would use these games to spread national alliance, to form a people who cheered on their Empire in pride.  Chanting “Long live Casear” while cheering on the death of another man.

At many of these events part of the game was the mass killing of Roman Christians.  Whether they were burned at the stake, hung on crosses, or thrown to the lions.  These men and women chose Christ instead of the Empire they confessed Jesus as King, not Caesar.  They lived for the Kingdom of God in the face of the Empire!

I have yelled at players, I have cheered on their failures, I have chanted “Detroit Sucks!”  Am I being overtaken by my love for sports?  I had to ask the question, am I living a life for the Empire instead of a life for the Kingdom of God?

The struggle to live counter-cultural to the Empire by living for the Kingdom of God is a constant battle.

Similar to the Israelites I struggle to fight off the Empire, but the truth is that I am a part of the Empire.  I am a modern day Roman, I’m an American.  I’m a member of the Empire who is striving to be a worker for the Kingdom of God.

I’m not saying that sports are evil.  I’m not trying to super spiritualize a game played on hardwood.  All I’m saying is as you paint your face black and red, as you buy $60 tickets to a game, as you wear that team apparel, ask yourself the question, “What’s in my heart?”

Can you watch silly games while living for the Kingdom of God?  Yes!  But if I’m going to err on one side it’ll be leaving the liturgy of the Empire for the liturgy of Jesus Christ; “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be down, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Yesterday as I watched the riots in Baltimore break out I was reminded of the riots that occurred in the 90’s after the Bulls won.  Neither riot is good but one is a way of crying out for injustice and pent up rage over issues that haven’t been dealt with, the other is because a sports team won a silly game.

I want to live for the Kingdom of God.  That means I need to start watching “the game” though a new lense.  As Brian Zahnd puts it, “There is no THEM; there is only US.”