Thought for Today
Ruth 1:16 But Ruth said, "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Jeremiah 7:23 But this command I gave them, "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you."
Matthew 1:5 Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse 6 and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah
I hope you all watched at least 1 or more of the World Cup matches, either on television or in person. Greta and I watched as many as we could. We are not particularly obsessed with soccer, or, as it‘s known everywhere else in the world, football. We are not even obsessed with U.S.A. football. But, we did enjoy watching the World Cup.
I’m certain that folks are already busy computing the economic benefit derived by each of the host cities and host nations from their hosting this global event. Economics are important. Money is not the most important thing in life . . . but money is important.
That being said, however, I am thinking this morning about the ancillary benefits accrued to everyone worldwide from such truly global contests, especially global events not involving munitions of any sort beyond skilled footwork, teamwork, and strategic use of human resources.
The final games Saturday and Sunday did decide the top 4 teams worldwide. However, the entire World Cup event was replete with numerous winners on many levels. By expanding the field, teams from several countries qualified for the first time. Nations large and small, familiar names and countries never before heard of in World Cup competition came together for ‘friendly’ competition. I wrote ‘friendly,’ because for a supposedly non-contact sport, there was a plethora of pushing, shoving, jersey-tugging and allegedly incidental contact. I’m sure some of the words exchanged between players were unfriendly and not complementary. However, no missiles were launched, no bombs were dropped or exploded. Teams from nations historically inimical to each other competed on the pitch and afterwards shook hands with each other (mostly).
It was great fun to watch the games on television. Greta and I saw fans representing countries of which we had hardly ever heard. Who knew that so many would travel from far distant lands to support their teams? Who suspected that our own nation boasted significant communities of folks from Cape Verde or Morrocco? As a descendant of Scots, I was not surprised by the exuberance of the Tartan Army. When I preach, I often wear a stole made from Scottish wool and dyed in our clan tartan. But watching the obvious joy of so many different ethnicities in ‘friendly’ competition was heartwarming.
This World Cup reminded me that our world is a world of many cultures, many tribes, many ethnic identities. The U.S.A. is an especially multi-cultural society. We are all either immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. “The earliest confirmed evidence of human presence in the Americas comes from human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, which date to about 23,000–21,000 years ago.” (Copilot Search) While that seems like a long time ago, “The oldest confirmed remains of Homo sapiens have been discovered at several key African sites. The Jebel Irhoud site in Morocco has yielded fossils dated to approximately 315,000 years ago, representing some of the earliest known modern humans with a combination of archaic and modern features.” (ibid)
Anthropology, history and other social sciences teach us that humans first coalesced into family groups, then tribes, then city-states and finally nations. We tend to self-identify around such groupings. But, even King David had an ancestor who was not an Israelite.
Maybe the lessons we Christians should take from the World Cup is less about whether Spain deserved to win over Argentina and more about all of God’s children being part of God’s family. Maybe we should listen to God, "Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you." Maybe we should listen to Jesus, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
Listen, love, trust God,
Pastor Ray