Every day seems to bring another headline that tightens the chest: violence we can’t undo, policies that wound the vulnerable, a planet groaning under human neglect. 

And yet, kickoff still comes on time.  The playoffs roll on.  The games are thrilling.  Super Bowl commercials will be funny again this year.  The world, at least in some corners, looks unchanged.

It can feel disorienting, even infuriating.  Does no one notice what’s happening?  How can life go on as usual when so much is not okay?

Scripture knows this feeling well.  The psalms are full of cries that sound eerily modern: “How long, O God?”  The prophets rage against business-as-usual religion that ignores suffering at the gate.  Jesus himself weeps over a city that keeps moving while missing the things that make for peace.

From a progressive Christian perspective, the problem isn’t that people enjoy football, music, or moments of escape.  Joy and rest are not betrayals of faith; they are part of being human.  

The deeper spiritual challenge is what we do with that normalcy.  Do we allow it to numb us?  Or do we let it steady us so we can stay engaged?

The early church lived under empire, violence, and injustice.  Still, they gathered for meals, told stories, sang songs, and found reasons to hope.  They didn’t deny reality; they refused to let despair have the final word.  Their gatherings were not an escape from the world’s pain but a training ground for love, courage, and resistance.

So when the news is heavy but, in other ways, the world seems strangely unchanged, faith invites a different posture.  We notice.  We lament.  We pray not as a way of looking away, but as a way of staying awake.  We limit our news intake so as to protect our capacity to act compassionately. 

And we ask, again and again: Who is being harmed, and how can I stay engaged?

It is important to keep appraised of ICE violence, Iranian upheaval, Venezuelan chaos, and rising rents.  But staying in that place without coming up for air is unsustainable.  That’s why it’s not only okay to watch football (if that’s your thing) but a good thing to do.  It can get your head above water for a while and keep you grounded.

Coming to worship is an even deeper level of emotional sustainability.  It puts things in context and helps keep fear and desperation in their place by reminding us that God’s goodness is still real and at work each and every day.

And we can then work for change not because it is the right thing to do but because it is the faithful thing to do.  In other words, we are not using our own efforts to bring society back to a path of moderation and rationality.  We are accessing the infinite wellspring of God’s goodness to guide us in our giving, advocating, voting, volunteering, and loving with intention.  

It’s okay to still like the things we have always liked; such as sports or the theater or traveling.  These things do not make us callus.  They help keep us centered and better able to answer the gospel call to stay awake, to refuse indifference, and to practice love where our lives actually touch the world. 

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic