OUR OBSESSION WITH A BAG OF WIND
Thursday 15 May, 2008
World
UK
Sport
By Charles Gardner
I’m writing this on a weekend when much of the nation’s thoughts are concentrated on the direction of a bag of wind. I’m referring to the game of football, of course. As an armchair Doncaster Rovers fan and a sports editor, I am not entirely disinterested, and I am also intrigued by the participation in the Scottish Cup Final of Queen of the South, apparently the only football club named in the Bible!
However, our mad obsession with football seems so inappropriate at a time of such human misery on the other side of the world. On the one hand we hear of the appalling plight of those in China and Burma who have lost everything including, in many cases, members of their own family, and on the other hand we see football ‘fans’ running riot in the streets of Manchester because their team lost a match. The suffering of the former is almost beyond one’s imagination. And that is part of the problem in a society that got away with the odd tile falling off a roof when we were struck by an earthquake earlier this year. But how would we cope with such devastation as those in the Far East have experienced, where over 100,000 people are thought to have perished?
The trouble is that in a secular society that encourages us to think only of ourselves we have become de-sensitised to tragedy because – in a world without God – there’s nothing higher to which to aspire than our own self-interest. So it is that the office talk first thing on Monday is of the latest thrills in the race for the football Premiership. It seems harmless, but very superficial compared, for example, to the plight of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa who have escaped from the frying pan of Mugabe’s brutality into the fire of apparently xenophobic attacks in the face of 40 per cent unemployment.
It’s strange to think that the sport’s popularity originated when church teams took each other on. It was an outlet for physical activity in a world where spiritual health was still considered important. But now we have cast that aside, and give the police a permanent headache trying to deal with the result – an aimlessness among many who have been deprived of love, discipline and codes of behaviour flowing from our biblical roots.
We threw out the warning of St Paul, who said: “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”
At least two generations have now grown up with hardly any knowledge of Christianity, and the result is an increasing lack of purpose among our young people. They might aspire to fame and fortune, but if that seems out of reach, what else is there? And so they join the roller-coaster ride to depression, despair and even suicide.
A restoration of the importance of spiritual activity is paramount – and every authority in church and state ought to be doing everything to fan the flames of Christian revival – or else our social fabric will continue to crumble.
In China, meanwhile, where millions are suffering so, sport is still a big item on the agenda in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. China is very keen to win our approval as a major player on the world stage, but how many earthquakes will it take to shake us out of our lethargy and lack of collective concern for the deeper issues of our fragile lives? A positive consequence of the current credit squeeze may well be the discovery among many that life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions, but on who or what possesses us.
Writing of the need for the heavenly fire of Pentecost to grip our souls in an age when the fires of hedonism burn fiercely, legendary Christian author Selwyn Hughes says: “If we do away with God, then we have no framework of reference, no star by which to steer the ship of our life, and so we are tossed from wave to wave of futile pursuits…because there is no God to give worth and meaning to life…”
Photo: DreamsTime.com
David R Graham wrote:
Hello Charles,
Well done on the new site; very attractive, and very easy to navigate, I shall be a regular visitor.
You are a courageous man Charles, taking on the sensitive subject of football in this country. I have never been interested in the sport myself, although I do think the players must be very fit to be able to run up and down a pitch the way some of them do. The attraction of the game, and the passions it ignites in the vast majority of fans has always intrigued me. How some people can get so overtaken by the course or outcome of a game is beyond me. Perhaps it’s because football never featured in our household as we were growing up. The passion I see for football in this country [and elsewhere] confirms for me that human beings have a need inside of them that has to be satisfied by something. I suspect that that need is ‘to belong’, to be a part of something; to not be alone, to identify with ‘the team’, to share in a common cause, to be with others, to not be an outsider, or a loner. For so many people being a fan of a football team fills that need. To tell those fans that that need inside of them is for God is to court derision. But how often do we hear of football teams letting their fans down. How often do we hear fans saying they will continue to support their team no matter how low they sink in the league tables. For so many people football fills their life with meaning and purpose to the exclusion of so many more worthwhile things. Football, as a sporting interest is harmless enough. But when the pursuit of football becomes a way of life, that life is the poorer for it. When the pursuit of football detracts people from the reality of what is taking place in the world around us then it becomes a danger. Until recently, reality has been in danger of slowly being superseded by fantasy. But lately things are beginning to change; the reality of finite life on this planet is beginning to be felt.
devon lovelace wrote:
Brilliant. So fantastic to be reading truth at last! It has previously only come for Sentamu and Ali Nazir.Get these articles into our papers if you can!
Terry O'Reilly wrote:
Congratulations on launch of new web-based paper! I heard of launch from C.Hill Update CD.
May God bless and multiply your efforts for His Gospel and Kingdom.
Can you consider articles from non-professionals.
What are your criteria ? Any special subjects sought for or to be avoided?
Terry O’Reilly
http://www.revivaldays.co.uk
My passion is revival, prayer
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