![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/230\/2013\/01\/beyonce.jpg\" "\\"beyonce\\"")
<\/a>For the record \u2013 I don\u2019t care that Beyonce lip-synced.<\/p>\nBack when I was touring & performing for a living, two guys from my band went to see Destiny\u2019s Child in concert (Beyonce\u2019s old group). In the middle of the set they did this incredible\u00a0acapella\u00a0rendition of Amazing Grace that brought down the house, then they kicked straight into \u201cBootylicious.\u201d It\u2019s an example of how the sacred\/profane divide only exists in the minds of religious people who do not understand that God is free.<\/p>\n
If God wants to use Beyonce, Paul McCartney, or even Janet Jackson\u2019s wardrobe malfunction in powerful ways, there\u2019s little anyone can do about it. The best approach is not to spend all of our creative energy making a Christian alternative to everything under the sun (The pinnacle of which is, in my humble opinion, Testamints<\/a>) so that we are not tainted by what happens in the world. The best approach is to learn to discern where God is already at work in the world (inside and outside the church), and then to pour all of our creative efforts into joining with God.<\/p>\n So during halftime of this Sunday\u2019s game, my family will be watching Beyonce perform & hoping that she keeps it relatively clean. But, if you are looking for an alternative, look no further:<\/p>\n (RNS) Super Bowl halftime shows often burn more vivid images into the American conscience than the most-watched football game of the year, and can claim millions more viewers.<\/p>\n They can also ignite controversy, as\u00a0Janet Jackson did with her halftime \u201cwardrobe malfunction\u201d in 2004. Last year, performing with Madonna, British-born hip-hop star M.I.A. gave the finger to 114 million people.<\/p>\n Outraged by the raunchy behavior, or simply to capture some of the Super Bowl\u2019s supersized audience, some religious programmers are now producing halftime shows of their own.<\/p>\n In direct response to the Jackson breast-baring, Sky Angel, a national Christian television network, the next year offered a halftime alternative to Paul McCartney singing \u201cHey Jude,\u201d with a special that included testimony from Christian athletes, as well as commentary about the Patriots-Eagles matchup.<\/p>\n More recently,\u00a0Catholic TV<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Eternal Word Television Network<\/a>\u00a0have aired theFaith Bowl<\/a>\u00a0at halftime.\u00a0Produced by the Hollywood-based, Catholic-oriented Family Theater Productions, the show has featured Catholics in sports preaching about how\u00a0faith can inspire an athlete.<\/p>\n Last year, Yeshiva University, the Orthodox Jewish university in New York City, introduced its\u201cTorah Super Bowl Halftime Show\u201d<\/a>\u00a0online, with glitzy, NFL-style graphics. Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff, who has moonlighted as a comedian, kicked off the first of three mini-lessons: \u201cI thought maybe we could learn something by watching these people run around the field.\u201d<\/p>\n The show got more than 3,000 hits.<\/p>\n This Sunday (Feb. 3),\u00a0a new crop of scholars from Yeshiva, which doesn\u2019t have a football team, will relate the finer points of the sport to the Hebrew Bible, and intersperse their teachings with trivia. For example:\u00a0\u201cWho was the only Jewish football player to win four Super Bowls?\u201d(The answer: Randy Grossman, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n