Thought for the Week - 18/7/2021

Dear Friends, 

So the dream is over for another tournament. Some 31 million of us watched last Sunday’s Euro 2020 final as England lost to Italy in a penalty shootout, 3-2. In 1996 the pictures were of the then England manager, Terry Venables, comforting the 26-year-old Gareth Southgate having missed a penalty costing England the semi-finals of the European Cup at Wembley. Fast forward to 2021 and the pictures are of the England manager Gareth Southgate comforting the 19-year-old Bukayo Saka having missed a penalty costing England the finals of the European Cup at Wembley. As the former England captain Alan Shearer said the next day, ‘Football can be a cruel, cruel game [and] unfortunately these boys will feel so hurt, so angry, so disappointed this morning and it will hurt them for a while’. Pete Grieg the author, pastor and founder of the 24/7 Prayer movement said in a Facebook post after the final that it was 25 years between the two images of a manger comforting a distressed player, and that ‘maybe that’s just how long it takes a son to become a true father’. The apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians says, ‘For even if you have 10,000 guardians in your Christian life, you have only one father. For in your life in union with Christ Jesus I have become your father by bringing the Good News to you. (1 Corinthians 4:15). Here Paul uses the term ‘father’ as the founder of the local church because he has started it and so he could be trusted to have its best interests at heart. His attempt was to unify the church there, to bring it together, to keep them focused on the one true foundation of the church – Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to tell the Corinthians to imitate him, because he walked close to God, spent time in God’s word and in prayer, and was always aware of God’s presence in his life. In other words he encouraged them to walk the journey he was walking, just as we are encouraged to do so today. Just as Gareth Southgate knows exactly how Bukayo Saka and the others who missed their penalties are feeling because he’s been there, so Paul knows how the Corinthians, and how we feel about walking the walk of faith with Jesus Christ, because that was his experience too. 

Grace and peace,

Neil

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