England 3 Italy 0

Last Sunday, at the 6.30pm St John the Baptist Patronal service at Brokenborough, I was more concerned than usual with finishing quite promptly and leaving the building before the obligatory cup of coffee, as Messrs Rooney, Parker, Hart and Terry needed me to sing the national anthem and sit with a patriotic glass of English ale and cheer them to glorious victory. In an alternative universe Theo Walcott came on at 60 minutes and scored a breathtaking hat trick as we advanced to the Euro semi-finals on Thursday. In the universe I normally inhabit we lost miserably and predictably on penalties.

But if we had won on Sunday it would have landed me with a big problem, as every Thursday night I ascend from the sofa and actually play sport. Thursday night is always basketball night at the Activity Zone and has been since St Aldhelm started it in the 7^th century. And given the choice to watch England play football or actually play sport myself, well, England would have had to manage without me. Maybe they’d even win.

There is a tide of passivity which we need to keep an eye on. We can too easily settle for watching others sweat and triumph in the sporting arena. We can get totally absorbed in the relational nuances of our favourite soap and miss the relational blessings and challenges of our own lives. And in glorious 3D we can see the world saved from aliens by superheroes when there is plenty the world around needs saving from, and we’re probably the mini-superheroes lined up to do it.

That same dynamic can also rob us of our full participation in the life and worship of the church. As long as others are reading the Bible and reflecting theologically, as long as others are engaging with broken and lost souls, as long as others are passionately praising God in song, as long as others are giving generously, as long as others are meeting and praying and having fun, if all that is going on, well…the church will be just fine. Maybe. But two things: if we don’t inhabit the fullness of what God wants for us we are surely diminished, we are less. And if we are individually diminished, then the church has loss some of its beauty and uniqueness. I shall reflect on this further as I watch Wimbledon.