蜜芽传媒

The Lionesses have done it again. Tomorrow evening in Basel, after a helter-skelter week, full of twists and turns, England face Spain in their third, consecutive, major final.

It鈥檚 because football is one of the most universal languages in the world that people so easily connect with it. It also produces many contemporary parables about belonging and believing, hope & uncertainty. Football is often about facing insurmountable hurdles and still daring to believe. It鈥檚 the taking part which brings diverse people together.

Throughout the gospels Jesus uses parables about everyday life to talk about what really mattered. He didn鈥檛 rely on lofty or technical language that would only have confused people. Instead, he told them about fishing, farming, losing & finding things, what happens at work and the injustices of discrimination. He was relevant. And they listened.

I鈥檓 sure that鈥檚 why football works so well in helping people to see how, whilst belief is not always easy, persistence usually brings hope. Ours is a culture where it鈥檚 hard enough simply establishing what鈥檚 true and what isn鈥檛. In the digital jungle of our existence, we easily despair. We need examples of how to believe again, and football can bring out the best in us.

I want to set aside, just for this morning, the vital goals of equality and eradicating racism and not only in football. They should be taken as a given. Instead, what about the twin parables of 鈥渂elief鈥� and 鈥渉ope鈥� as we look ahead to tomorrow鈥檚 game.

Not even four years ago, Michelle Agyemang was a ball girl at Wembley. Twice, in the space of a few days, this unknown youngster, who grew up playing gospel music on her piano, has displayed exceptional talent and astonishing confidence. Her goals in consecutive matches, with only minutes to spare, lifted millions of hearts and restored belief.

And what about hope? The bible talks a lot about persistence and never giving up as well as the joy that hope brings. Well, England fans have been here many times before. Any parable illustrating how defeat is transformed into victory is well understood by any soccer fan!

I certainly don鈥檛 believe that God favours one side or another 鈥� that would be crazy. But football has always shown me how belief and hope inevitably raise people鈥檚 spirits and we need a lot more of both in today鈥檚 world.
Having said that 鈥� come on England!

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