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Radio 4,2 mins

Rev Professor David Wilkinson - 17/12/2018

Thought for the Day

Available for over a year

Good morning. A weekend consisting of the final of Strictly, The Apprentice and Geriant Thomas crowned as Sports Personality of the Year, poses a question of who deserves to be called the greatest? Indeed, in a Radio Times poll, World Cup winner and England captain Bobby Moore was voted the greatest Sports Personality winner of all time. Where does greatness come from? In sport and business, it is often recognised as talent and achievement. But it’s more than that. Moore’s ability to read a game and time a tackle was partly instinctive but that instinct was honed through many years of practice, determination in the face of illness and injury, and a basic love of the game. And then there is the journey. The public support of Stacey Dooley and her Strictly dance partner Kevin Clifton, recognised that the transformation of someone who had never danced before was more important than the judges’ technical scores. But true greatness seems to me to go even further than talent, achievement, hard work or journey. It is encapsulated in the title of the recent movie about one of my other sporting heroes, Bobby Robson: More than a manager. Here was a person who shaped José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola. But he also continued to support the troubled Paul Gascoigne and in the face of his own illness raised millions for charity. True greatness has that ‘more than’ quality of deep humanity which combines humility to self and empathy and sacrifice for others. That is the type of greatness, that as a Christian, I see in the birth, life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and through that into the nature of God. During the season of Advent, Christians celebrate that the child born in the stable is the great King, and that God’s values are seen in the humble and not the proud rulers. This is the Jesus who cautions me that ‘whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant’. Echoing those words, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.’ This weekend I celebrated another great person. At the College where I work, one of our kitchen staff retired after 16 years. Fun and a larger than life character, she would serve students and clear dishes. But alongside that, out of her income she has quietly supported seven people from her home country through their education. She is one of many unsung heroes in whom I glimpse and am challenged by genuine greatness.

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