So, a few nights ago I did something I had never done before. I watched a full episode of Desperate Housewives from start to finish.

The re-run hooked me in because one of its central plot-lines concerned faith and religion (”Sunday” was the title). After enduring several traumas in her life, Lynette (Felicity Huffman) decides to coerce her family into joining Bree (Marcia Cross) at church. And in the process, the episode took up a fundamental question: What is church for?

The crux of the drama was whether church was for “questions” or “answers.” Ultimately, of course, church is all about both. But in trying to answer the question, Housewives touched on many of the reasons many of us religious types find ourselves – in more ways than one – within religious communities.

Tradition and community. Forgiveness and reconciliation. Friendship and meaning. And a source for trust. This last value is particularly important for those who…

A must read: Joseph Kip Kosek writes insightfully on the stoic Catholic spirituality of Brett Favre, the recently retired star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Kosek contrasts Favre’s subdued faith–a faith that has sustained him through addiction and his wife’s cancer–with the born-again, evangelical fervor of Kurt Warner and the, well, high-life hedonism of Tom Brady, two other well-known star football players.

For what it’s worth, I’m eagerly awaiting the day when a sports figure thanks Jesus for losing the Super Bowl, or the World Series, or the NCAA tournament. Because, through it, she or he just might experience a deeper glimpse of solidarity with the suffering of the world, those “losers” who fall victim to “winners” in games with much higher stakes than point spreads and million-dollar ads.

Since, you know, that’s why Jesus came into the world in the first place.