World Cup Blogs 28: Spain

Writing this on a blisteringly hot day in London, I remember a journey in similar heat to visit this place in Barcelona.


It is impossible not to be impressed by the Nou Camp Stadium. History, in the football sense, has been made here time and again. It is the largest stadium in Europe and somehow creates a sense of excitement even when the only thing that is currently happening is that the grass is growing!

Then there is the Motto.

Most stadia have seats coloured to spell out something - frequently the club's initials or nickname. Not so Barcelona. Instead it spells out, in Catalan, the Motto,

MORE THAN A CLUB

The motto reflects the Catalunyan pride in Barcelona such that the club came to represent the Catalan nation and culture. This was especially true in the days of Franco's dictatorship when most expressions of Catalan culture were suppressed. Supporting FC Barcelona was a political act.  It has continued and been revisited in the Catalan pressure for independence since the last World Cup.

Football - other sport too of course - is often a MORE THAN.  Even this summer, England's unexpectedly extended stay into the semi-finals of the tournament did something positive in the unifying mindset of the country.

Life is never as compartmentalised as we are inclined to think.  Football Teams are never just football teams, houses never just houses, holidays never just holidays, churches never just churches; the weaving of life demands that we seek God's ways in it all.

Lilleshall

This week dozens of Sports Chaplains met at the National Sports Centre, Lilleshall. This is annually a truly inspirational conference with some great insights into the world of sport and faith.

For example we heard about one English Football Club where, after the Manager's team talk the players are offered the chance to go to another quiet room for prayer which includes meditating on a verse of the Bible.

So, of the 11 players plus substitutes, how many - in deeply secular 21st century Europe -might be found in the prayer room?

Up to ten.

Or to put it another way; a rather higher proportion that most churches manage at their prayer meetings!

Now if they were at FC Barcelona, they'd even have a proper chapel . . .

Columbus

We wandered around Barcelona in the blazing sun and came upon this chap.

He's quite hard to miss but, not having my guidebook in hand I didn't recognise him at first. I felt a bit embarrassed when I discovered that it is no less than a statue of Christopher Columbus. It was a mistake no American would ever have made!

I plead two things as excuses.

1. His hand is pointing out into the Mediterranean. From this I'd assumed he was some Catalan general or admiral who fought upon that sea. America is, after all in the other direction (at least when you head the way Columbus went)

2. Each evening, when the building fascias on the waterfront are floodlit and each palm tree is also lit by floodlights poor old Columbus was left in the dark. From that I wrongly deduced he really couldn't be very famous, who ever he was, because he was deemed less worthy of a floodlight than a palm tree.

I reflected that in a funny way it reflects how our society honours Jesus. He is still thought of quite highly and worth some substantive piles of stones and art.

At the same time although he clearly pointed one way (I am the way, the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except by me) he can now be thought of as pointing in any direction we choose.

And when the lights come on, the streets buzz and the bars open, we are much more likely to be thinking about palm trees than about Him.