My church admonishes its members to “be in the world and not of it”. To “be free from worldly practices and indulgences”. James A. Cullimore * and to keep the Sabbath day Holy. DC 59:9-13
This applies to watching television on Sunday. This applies to the Super Bowl.
We should keep “from doing thy pleasure on my holy day”. Isaiah 58:13-14
My husband and I have always watched the Super Bowl. He’s not one of those husbands who is constantly immersed in sports. In fact, he rarely watches any sports event on TV. So, the Super Bowl is an anomaly. It’s our tradition.
But, when I went back to church (after a long hiatus—a story for another day) and started honoring the Sabbath, it meant a lot of changes in our household. When your spouse is not of the faith it causes more than a few wrinkles in a relationship.
The Lord’s admonition: “Brethren, treat your wives with love and respect and kindness. And, wives, you treat your husbands with love and respect and kindness” Gordon B. Hinckley
For years we have made food and gathered around the super bowl to enjoy the new commercials and root for our favorite team. Sometimes that was the same team, sometimes not.
When my husband isn’t home, I don’t watch our team when they play on Sundays. So what does a Sabbath honoring Christian do when the spouse not only watches TV but wants you watching it with him? There’s a certain togetherness and camaraderie in watching something we both enjoy that adds to a relationship.
Should you stay in the room and read or work on the computer while he’s watching TV? This works for me if I don’t care for the program. But, if I like the show, it’s next to impossible not to watch it.
Should you just go in the other room? Sometimes this will work especially if it’s something you don’t enjoy and he’s “all into it” not really knowing or caring if you’re in the room or not.
But, this Game has become “a thing” for us. We enjoy it together, talking and discussing. I just couldn’t go into the next room and ignore him. I just couldn’t.
By Super Bowl Sunday, I had been pondering my dilemma all week. I asked some people, “is it wrong to enjoy the game even if I’d have it OFF if my husband was not here?”
Some said, “YES, IT’S WRONG”!
Others said, “No, you should be with your husband”.
So, I was right back where I began—knowing I was going to watch (and yes, enjoy) the game with my husband. But, I was still wrangling it around in my mind. My husband’s response was to remind me of the members of my church who either play or coach professional football.
I wanted to honor God and keep my covenant while honoring my marriage, too. It was like I had two conflicting mandates. Guilt shadowed me.
Then, on the way home from church as I pondered the BIG question about the BIG game, a new thought struck me, 
“Be IN the world, not OF the world”.
So, how could I apply that to the game?
I decided to write down all the players’ names and pray for them. Not as a group or a team, but individually. By name. So, I did. Whew, it took a while to write them all down…do you know how many men there are on a football team??? A lot.
I started with the Rams owner….Stan Kroenke. I know Stan. I grew up with Stan. I remember an intelligent, athletic, kind boy. One of his sisters is my age and a dear friend, so, being a country girl without a car, Stan gave me rides to games. I only know two things for sure about Stan’s life: 1. He owns the Rams 2. Missouri is ticked at him for moving them to LA.
For starters, I prayed for Stan to have the good will of the people back in the Midwest who still love the Rams. Football is an intense sport and the Show Me State will take a while to forget what they deem as betrayal.
I went down the rosters and jotted down every name, every position, every personal bit of info I found on each player on both teams. This was my prayer power—being as individual as possible. It was no small task and took a considerable amount of time. I prayed as I listed names and tried to keep the Spirit about me.
Then I made that roster my prayer list. My first plan was to pray for them during the game and be done with it. But, I soon realized, with about a hundred names on that list it was going to take more time to do it justice. So, I decided to make them my “February Project”. So, I’m praying for men I do not know, will never meet and have no idea what they need. I’m trusting in the Holy Ghost to guide my prayers.
Did I do the right thing? What do you think? What would you have done? Was I practicing being in the world and not of it? Was I living up to my Holy Woman Challenge?
*To Be In the World and Not Of the World
Some additional thoughts:
- “It is my experience that there are a lot of very fine people in the world. Just because they do not have my outlook on life has never given me reason to alienate them through prudish self-righteousness. Perhaps herein lies the secret of ‘living in the world without being a part of the world.’” (“Living in the World without Being a Part of the World,” De Witt J. Paul, Improvement Era, September 1965, p. 838.)
- President George Albert Smith explained what our attitude toward the Sabbath should be: “[The Lord] has set apart one day in seven, not to make it a burden, but to bring joy into our lives and cause that our homes may be the gathering place of the family, … increasing our love for one another” (“Obey the Commandments,” Improvement Era, 1949, 9).
- The First Presidency of the Church said: “The Sabbath is not just another day on which we merely rest from our work, free to spend it as our light-mindedness may suggest. It is a holy day, the Lord’s Day, to be spent as a day of worship and reverence” (“The Sabbath,” Church News,11 July 1959, 3).
- When we cannot avoid working on Sunday, we should keep the spirit of the Sabbath in our hearts.
- May we let the gospel light guide us that we may be in the world and yet not partake of the evil of the world.
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