Football, France and me

I have never taken any interest in football whatsoever - until going to France. Football in France is important.

1) It has been a key bridge between Gwilym and the other lads.

2) It is a ready topic of conversation, and if French people find you supporting the blues they generally like it.

3) It is a ready source of gospel illustrations. For example:

a. the French team is among the strongest forces for racial integration in France today. They come from everywhere and they are heros. They are building bridges between people of very different origins and cultures. That's a gospel issue! The church of God is kaleidoscopic and multiracial and wonderfully integrated - not in a team, but in the one man Jesus Christ.

b. the French media use the word "dieu" very freely - for example a calendar of rugby players called "les dieux de la stade", etc. Zidane has been nicknamed "le dieu" because of his footballing prowess. In a way, that's understandable and a testimony to the truth of the Bible because we are made like God. We are not apes and we didn't come from the apes. We are made by God, to be like God, made in his image. But Zizou is flawed. He can behave badly. Of course! Doesn't the Bible tell us that we are made to be like God, but we became flawed, behaving badly, sinful and fallen. The only man who was never sinful is the man who never fell - the man who is God, Jesus Christ.

c. Forgiveness. Zizou has been forgiven by the President. We can be forgiven by the great King through Jesus Christ.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great illustrations! Hope you don't mind if I use them at some point. Trouble is, Zidane's forgiveness by Chirac sounds more like relativism than genuine grace. After all, has he expressed any sorrow for what he did? But then once you start going down these lines of thinking the illustration is always going to break down and no-one would ever use them at all...
11:29 am
Alan said…
Yes. The forgiveness one I think is especially important.

For one, why can Chirac forgive?

For another, how can Chirac forgive? On what basis? On merit? On sympathy? On mitigating circumstances? On repentance? God can forgive on the basis of the cross.
11:39 am
Anonymous said…
But surely the President of France he can do anything?
4:42 pm
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