Perhaps you have heard the term “Christmas and Easter Christians” before, or perhaps you haven’t. It is a term that we, the “regular” churchgoing members use to describe those people that we only see twice a year. They might be members of the church, or they might not, but they do not attend weekly services, do not participate in programs or events, and otherwise do not include church as a part of their regular life and routine. But for some reason, every Christmas Eve, there they are, lighting candles and singing carols with the rest of us. And again on Easter morning, they arrive ready to greet the risen Christ before slinking back into the shadows.
I have questioned their motivations in the past. Why would they do this? What’s the point? If you are not going to attend church for the other 50+ services, why would you attend these? Is it just a trapping of your holiday season, like your office party or the wreath on your door? Or is there some other reason you are compelled to show up on the holiest of holy days?
Yes, this behavior confused me, until yesterday. That was when I realized I was a “Christmas and Easter” football fan. I watched zero football games this season, or any season, I could not name a single one of the players except for Ray Lewis, and that is only because he possibly enjoys killing people in his spare time, and not because he plays football, and I don’t actually have a keen grasp on how the actual game is played. I don’t know the rules, I don’t care about what goes on on the field, and I roll my eyes all year long at the “regular” football fans, who I generally view as misguided fanatics. And yet every year, once a year, I sit down with the rest of the country and watch the Super Bowl.
Okay, to be fair we actually started the evening by watching “My Neighbor Totoro,” but halfway through that I left my house and drove over to my brother-in-law’s place to watch the game with some of the guys. But why? Why do I care about watching the Super Bowl every year, when I hate football and do not otherwise participate in this cultural phenomenon?
For one thing, I want to be part of the shared cultural experience. This is the most watched event on television, and in an age when there are very few things that everyone watches on TV anymore, this is one of the last chances to be a part of something huge. I don’t want to be left out of the conversation when, the next morning, everyone says “Can you believe the power went out?!” and “DAY-yum! Be-YON-ce!” I want to know what they are talking about. I want to have experienced that craziness too.
I also enjoy the extra stuff that the Super Bowl provides. The creative commercials. The extended Iron Man 3 movie previews. The top notch anthem singing and halftime shows. The top teams in the country competing for some jewelry. This is football at its best. The talent and the high profile celebrities are there, the ads that we will be talking about years later are there, and everything just seems to be taken up a level from a normal game.
And of course I like the snacks.
So I guess I understand a little better what might motivate someone to come to church on only the biggest days of the year. And it’s the churches’ job to give them something on those days that will keep them coming back for more every week. Just like the Super Bowl should try to give me something that will spark an interest in football in me. And when you think about it, God and football have a lot in common. They both move at their own maddeningly slow paces, they often make no sense to us mere mortals, and they both have carved out Sundays and holidays for their observances. But I’ll take church over football any day. Sorry Beyoncé, but the music is better at church.