Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
Blog Number 24
July 15, 2019
Christian Lessons from the USA World Cup Soccer Team
I don’t usually watch soccer, but I was inspired enough by the USA team winning, to find a rerun of the game on TV and enjoyed it. I also saw media clips of the welcoming parade for the women as well as the controversial speech made by the co-captain of the team, Megan Rapinoe. She celebrated the unity of the team, despite differences in ethnic origins, backgrounds, and sexual orientation. She claimed that it was this unity of purpose that gave our team the victory. I wonder if the Church of Jesus might learn some lessons from Megan’s speech in New York City.
The goal of the disciples of Jesus is to make more disciples, to teach the world what Jesus taught them. They are to call people to justice and righteousness. Too often, we in the church get distracted from this goal. We spend more time wondering “who should be on the team” than keeping that goal before us.
We debate whether those whose worship style is different from ours are really our brothers and sisters. We wonder if we can work with someone who is sexually oriented differently than we are. We spend hours debating the righteousness of others and deciding with whom we can work with and with whom we will not.
Each of the ladies of this soccer team all began as a little girl who took the first courageous step by kicking their first soccer ball, and persistently kicked that ball, keeping their goal in mind, and not judging their other teammates based on anything but sharing the same goal. Can you imagine if we imitated this team?
If we acted like that team then Christians of all backgrounds, orientations, and appearances would be out making disciples, insisting on justice for all, and caring for those in need. We would minister to others without a thought. Perhaps our goal might be reached and every knee will be bowing and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It sounds like a fine goal to me. Let us learn from Megan and the other team members. We must be goal oriented and our goal must be to fulfill Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations. The silly things that divide us just get in the way of that goal.
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