How to be free from desire

Here's my article for June:

It's time for another football World Cup: which will be a cause for rejoicing for those who can't get enough of football and despair for those who have had enough of football!  I've mentioned previously about football chants but as well as adapting lyrics to popular songs, football fans also adopt songs as their own.

Famously, Liverpool fans sing “You'll never walk alone” from the musical Carousel; West Ham fans sing “I'm forever blowing bubbles”; Hibernian fans sing “Sunshine on Leith”; and Newcastle fans sing “Blaydon Races.”  Other songs transcend individual clubs and are sung by many fans, such as “We are the Champions” and “Sweet Caroline.” Another song in this latter category is “Freed from desire.”

When I was chaplain to the Scunthorpe United Academy, the U18s team would often play this song as part of their pre-match playlist.  This always struck me as slightly odd as although the the music and rhythm are invigorating, the wish to be freed from desire doesn't seem to be the best motivation for going into a competitive match!  I'm sure that it will be said many times during the World Cup that poor performances from teams are because of a lack of desire.

The song itself is actually a reflection of Eastern spirituality, especially Buddhism – that's the 'strong beliefs' referred to.  The singer's love has been freed from the desire for money, power and fame, and his mind and senses have been purified, unlike other people who just want more and more.  This seems to be similar to Jesus' teaching “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 5:19-20), and also to the apostle Paul's “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2).

However, the reason these desires should be avoided in Buddhism is because never-ending desires and cravings that cannot be quenched cause suffering.  Buddha taught that even the desire not to desire is in itself a desire, and as such a source of suffering.  Therefore the solution is to cultivate non-attachment to everything – including the idea that there is a permanent essence of anything.

In contrast, the Bible teaches us that the created world was good and that humans made it very good, because we are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1 and 2).  We are created to be in eternal relationship with God, but humanity's sin has corrupted us and the world.  Therefore our desires are now not for God but for earthly 'treasures.'  The good news, however, is that through trust in Jesus' death and resurrection, we can be freed from those desires and enjoy the abundant, eternal life with God that we were created for.

image by Prawny from Pixabay

Elections, Euros and almost certain disappointment!

Here's an extended version of my article for July:

This month there will be two competitions: the General Election and the football European Championships – I'll leave you to decide which is the more important!  One thing both competitions have in common is that the majority of people will be disappointed with the result.  Obviously only one country's team can win the Euros, leading to heartbreak for the other finalist, and the other teams who don't even get that far.  However it's easy to forget this truth with the General Election because we live in a democracy and so assume that the outcome of the election is the 'will of the people.' So it comes as a bit of a shock to realise that since the end of WWII no party has won the General Election with over 50% of the vote (and of course not everyone who's eligible to vote does vote). So although the question of who we vote for is really important, we might also want to ask ourselves how we will respond when statistically we are more likely to be disappointed with the result.

Christianity, unlike Islam and pre-exilic Judaism, has no codes for government as it is not meant to be a 'state religion': Jesus calls his followers into the Kingdom of God, which he says “is not of this world” (John 18:36). The New Testament gives no guidance on what a Christian government would look like, what laws it should enact, nor by what mechanism that government should get its power.  Nor does it tell us, if we have a say in choosing the government, what questions or issues should take priority in our choice, nor what the character of those governing should be.  However, it does tell us that we should pray for the coming of God's Kingdom where his will is done on earth (Matthew 6:9-10); and it does tell us the character traits of those who belong to the Kingdom (e.g. 1 Corinthians 13:1-7) and the sorts of values they should hold (e.g. Colossians 1:9-14.)  But as it is very rare that candidates for election are members of God's Kingdom, and no political party fully reflects the values of the Kingdom - even if the candidate we vote for and their party wins, we are still likely to be disappointed!!

The realisation that we will be disappointed is a great corrective to the inflated sense of the importance of our own views that democracy gives us. We should always have freedom to hold and express our views, but we should also have the humility to listen to other people's views, being open to changing our minds and having the grace to let others change their minds too.  Most importantly though we should read God's word in the Bible so that we are shaped by his thoughts and not “conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (Romans 12:2) “then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14).

The New Testament is also more concerned with our attitude towards those in power, however they got it.  Paul and Peter tell us to submit to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1; 1 Peter 2:13), which is even more shocking since the Roman Emperor was the supreme governing authority, and Paul also calls us to pray for the authorities (1 Timothy 2:1-2).  However, we shouldn't obey the authorities if they are telling us to do something that goes against God's commands (Acts 5:29).  If Paul expects the churches to honour an Emperor who was clearly against God's Kingdom, “to slander no one [including the authorities], to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone” (Titus 3:2), how much more should we honour all those who work in public office, regardless of whether we completely agree with them?

So let's not allow our inevitable disappointment (either with politics or football!) to express itself in cynicism, insults and derogatory comment, but instead let's pray for all in authority, that through them God's Kingdom may come and his will be done.

Left image by John Mounsey from Pixabay 

Right image by Prawny from Pixabay 

Songs of September and Song of Songs

Here's my magazine article for September:

By September the football season is well underway - although some would say the football season never really stops! The number of players changing teams during the summer means that though the names of the clubs stay the same, the actual teams can be quite different. If you follow a club on social media you will get updates on the latest signings, and following my team, Tranmere Rovers, on Facebook I saw the familiar name of a former player who is now returning.

Though I'm not a good enough fan to know all of the players, Connor Jennings, who has also played for both Scunthorpe United and Grimsby Town, sticks out in my mind mainly for a couple of reasons: firstly he was a great player who contributed lots to three consecutive play-off finals, including the winning goal in the 2019 League Two final. But secondly, he has a great fan song!

Sporting chants usually take their inspiration from popular or well-known songs. So we have the general purpose: “You're not singing any more” to the tune of “Guide me O thou great Redeemer”; “There's only one...” to “Winter Wonderland”; and “You only sing when you're winning / fishing / insert other regional stereotype here” to “Guantanamera.” Connor's song is to “September” by “Earth, Wind and Fire” but when I first heard the chant I recognised the tune but didn't know the original song, until it was on the radio a few weeks later.

One of the writers said about it “never let the lyric get in the way of the groove”, meaning that it's a song to dance to not think deeply about, but it does have a general message. Unsurprisingly, it is not about a footballer who “never gives the ball away”. The singer asks his partner “do you remember...dancing in September...never was a cloudy day...Remember how we knew love was here to stay?” Unlike many songs that speak of this first flush of love, the song doesn't then say that this love was great but never lasted. Instead, now in December they still share true love.

These months could be literal months, saying that this was not just a summer fling, or they could be metaphorical months (like they are in Sinatra's “September Song”) describing the human lifespan as a calendar year. But whichever way it's read this is a song about a love that has lasted. Some have suggested that the reference to bells indicates that this is a song about a marriage (possibly on 21st September) that has lasted.

Sometimes the Bible reading at a wedding service sometimes comes from Song of Songs, where all eight chapters are a poetic celebration of the love between a man and a woman, often using spring as a metaphor for young love. I often then say that the 'springtime' of love makes everything seem easy, but the challenge of the marriage vows is to keep that love going through the difficult autumn and winter seasons. A difficult if not impossible promise to keep, unless we have the God who is love (1 John 4:8) filling us with his love. And his love is is a true everlasting love, not just for those in love, but for everyone.

Confessions of a bad football supporter

This is the February article from Scawby magazine:

We're just over half way through the football season and I have been to three matches. That may not seem like very many, but it's about the same as my total for the previous four seasons put together – and unusually two of those matches were to see my team play! I'm a Tranmere Rovers supporter and so since they dropped out of the same league as Scunthorpe, I've had limited opportunity to see them play until this season when they joined the same league as Grimsby and Lincoln.

It's often said that football is a bit like religion. Aside from the tribal nature of supporting teams, the matches themselves share similarities with religious services. Both the players and supporters have match-day rituals, the supporters tend to sit in the same place (and would do so even if they didn't have allocated seats), there is adulation of players past and present and there tends to be a rose-tinted view of 'glory days' in the past, when everything was much better. Then of course there's communal singing and the friendships formed between fellow supporters, and you can probably think of other similarities.

If supporting a football team is similar to being a religious believer, then I am a football supporter in a similar way that a lot of people are believers. The Roman poet Horace described himself as “A remiss and irregular worshipper” (Odes 1.34) and I feel the same about being a Tranmere supporter. If people ask me I'll tell them I support Tranmere, but I don't follow their progress closely, I don't know where they are in the league, and sometimes can't even remember what league they're in. I don't often go to see them play and when I did go to see them play this season I realised I didn't know any of the players and I didn't even know who their manager is! I used to be a season ticket holder and went to most home games and the occasional away match (especially if it was at Wembley!), but even then I wasn't really an avid fan. I'm a Tranmere supporter, but I do very little that would count as 'support' and it hardly ever affects my life.

And a lot of people are the same about Christianity: if asked they would say they are Christians, but aside from occasionally coming to church it hardly ever affects their life. But perhaps worse still are those who come to church most weeks but it still doesn't affect their lives – that's like going to watch Tranmere on a Saturday but wearing a Liverpool shirt for the rest of the week!

Lent is a good time for us all to reassess where our priorities and loyalties really lie. It's a chance for us to explore and deepen our faith, however 'remiss and irregular' we are. It's a chance to reaffirm our identity as Christians and take seriously the need for it to affect our whole lives. Like being a Tranmere supporter, being a Christian isn't always easy and attracts a lot of ridicule, but unlike being a Tranmere supporter the future is certain and it's glorious!

[The motto on the Tranmere crest above means "where there is faith, there is light and strength"]