Last weekend in Mississippi we watched a familiar fall tableau: the Grove full, fans partying and taunting one another, and Trinidad Chambliss leading No. 8 Mississippi past No. 7 LSU, 32-24, in Lane Kiffin’s return to Ole Miss. An airplane banner meant to jab at Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith added another political note to the pageantry. All of it — the joy, the rivalry, the provocation — landed in a single public moment.
Sports bring out the best of civic life: teamwork, shared memory, exuberant loyalty. They also expose its worst tendencies: the ease with which we reduce our neighbors to caricatures and cheer when they’re put in the rearview mirror. Scripture repeatedly calls believers to a different witness. The New Testament’s ethic of neighbor-love and the prophetic demand to hate what is evil and cling to what is good ask us to temper rivalrous pleasure with charity.
That same moral imagination should shape how we treat electoral life. The 2020 Mississippi Legislature’s embrace of runoff elections, despite their racist origin, is a reminder that policies carry histories. As campaigns unfold — with candidates touting emergency response wins and bets being placed on political backlashes — Christians should insist that voting and campaigning be formed by truth-telling, memory and a concern for the common good, not merely by short-term advantage.
Public life also requires a pastoral posture when tragedy strikes. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation’s probe into a fatal toddler shooting in Senatobia is now on the attorney general’s desk, the police chief confirmed. For people of faith this summons both a demand for justice and a duty of compassion: to mourn with those who mourn, to resist exploitive rhetoric, and to press for transparent processes so that grief is not abused for partisan gain.
Amid tension and sorrow, there are signs of renewal. Mississippi’s oyster industry is rebuilding as reefs show signs of growth. Such ecological recovery invites a theological reflection on stewardship: God’s creation bears wounds, but it is also capable of healing when human hands and public policy act with care. Supporting restoration is a tactile way to live out the vocation to care for the poor, the land and future generations.
So what does faithful action look like in a week that mixes tailgates, banners, elections and investigations? It looks like rejoicing with self-control when our team wins and offering hospitality rather than derision when rivals return to the field. It looks like voting with historical memory, supporting institutions that protect the vulnerable, and working with neighbors to restore ecosystems that sustain livelihoods.
There are no easy resolutions to the traumas and contests that animate our civic life. But the Christian calling is steady: to be a community marked by honest memory, compassionate justice and disciplined hope. In that spirit we can enjoy the spectacle of a great game, insist on accountability where harm has occurred, and roll up our sleeves to help reefs and neighborhoods recover — all as acts of faithful love.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
