SUMMER. A PLAYER “hopping on one foot like a jump-roper” juggles a soccer ball, as poet Christopher Merrill describes it. Sweat stings our collective wounds, but sports still have power to change the world. Enter Soccer Moses (created by Stephen Mason), Nashville SC’s unofficial mascot, who was named Music City’s “best religious leader.” Josiah R. Daniels, sojo.net’s senior associate opinion editor, interviews Mason on faith, humor, and how bringing people together is “very contrary to the moment we’re living in.”
Superstar reminds us that acting with moral clarity under empire is an ancient challenge — and that wrestling with questions posed by secular art can deepen our faith.
This is our first issue to feature a musical on the cover. Jim McDermott’s look at the half century of controversy and devotion generated by Jesus Christ Superstar is a “summer break” from the daily news. Even so, Superstar reminds us that acting with moral clarity under empire is an ancient challenge — and that wrestling with questions posed by secular art can deepen our faith.
We understand the pressure you are under — we feel it too. But remember the joy of bodies in motion — a perfectly executed scissor kick, an actor fully in character, wheelchair dancing at a “No Kings” protest, or even walking to the pulpit to preach “freedom dreams.” Move with joy.
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