Food For Thought
What are your favourite World Cup memories? I was a young teenager on my French exchange when England won in 1966, and there was no television in the house, so I think I only found out about it afterwards. In 1990, Cameroon (where I once spent a year on VSO) famously beat the defending champions Argentina in their opening match, went on to reach the last 16, and only lost to England in the quarter-finals after extra time. Cameroon are sadly absent from this year’s competition, but there are plenty of other potential giant-killers from Africa and elsewhere to watch out for.
The first official World Cup tournament was played in Uruguay in 1930. The modern Olympic Games started in Athens in 1896, at a time when “the whole world” was often seen in terms of empires. British classroom maps showed much of the world coloured pink. But when I was growing up, the best way to learn about the world was by collecting stamps. I still have the pages from my first album, with one headed “Italian States, Post Offices and Colonies” (including San Marino and Libya), and another for “Indian Native States”. I was very proud of my set of stamps from Travancore (today’s Kerala and part of Tamil Nadu), with denominations including “six cash”, “three-quarter chuckram”, and “fourteen chuckrams” (there being sixteen cash to the chuckram, and twenty-eight chuckrams to the rupee).
Today’s children are learning about the world through national football teams, noticing their flags, and maybe finding out about their food and other cultural elements. They will also notice how some footballers express their religious faith in public, often Christian or Muslim. Some point to the sky after scoring, or make the sign of the cross; others have prominent religious tattoos or messages on their vests; many will speak of their faith in interviews.
It was no accident that the Christian faith spread across the whole world. Jesus specifically told his disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28.19), saying “you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1.8). This was not something these rough Galilean fishermen and their friends could do in their own strength. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would empower them, and that’s what began to happen on the Day of Pentecost. It is still happening today.
In St John’s Gospel we read that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life” (John 3.16). The message of eternal life through Jesus is still good news, the very best news, for our world in which so many people are weighed down, anxious and fearful.
The World Cup gives us an opportunity to broaden our horizons, appreciate other cultures, and perhaps pray imaginatively for people, places and situations that we hadn’t been aware of before. “God so loved the world.”
Toby Garfitt – Lay Minister