Football and Faith

[Applause]

two football mad

elderly gentlemen named clive and bobby

were debating a profound philosophical

question

is there football in heaven

they made a pact and they agreed that if

one of them were to die he would visit

the other man in a dream and reveal the

truth

once and for all

very sadly some weeks later

bobby died but he came in clive’s dream

clive looks up bobby

tell me

is there football in heaven

bobby says

well i have some good news and some bad

news

the good news is there is football in

heaven

the bad news is you are playing in

midfield up here next sunday

i’m here to talk to you

about football

and faith now don’t judge a book by its

cover i wasn’t always an orthodox rabbi

looking quite like this

in fact i grew up as an atheist

my mother is jewish and my father isn’t

i had zero jewish identity

and

things began to change although

when i was growing up in reading the uh

the holy city off the m4 near slough

i was actually

a footballer

i was first signed by swindon town and

then by reading any reading fans

and i was soon playing football on a

weekly basis

once i was playing for reading against

southampton

i scored a couple of goals

and then i was fouled in the penalty

area and we were awarded a penalty

this was my chance to score what would

be a very rare hat trick

one of the management staff at reading

in those days was a man who went on to

become the manager of my beloved

liverpool football club

brendan rodgers

and as i was about to take this penalty

and i’m standing there apparently

brendan said to my dad in the stands

your son’s on a hat trick here

i was freaking out i was petrified with

all these people staring at me in the

stadium

i took my breath

took a run up

and took aim

when i took that penalty

i was 16

a party animal

without a care in the world

what happened

well i always felt there was something

missing

deep inside and it kept bugging me like

a hole in the soul

i was

jack the lad i’d go out clubbing and

after sobering up from say 24 double

vodka and red bulls i would feel

empty

and crestfallen

i would ask

is there more to life than this

what could life be about

for some reason

i had an unquenchable thirst

for meaning and a couple of years later

at university

i completely changed my lifestyle

i only ate kosher food

giving up

my bacon sanis in the process

i punctiliously observed the jewish

sabbath and all of the religious

festivals i even learnt ancient hebrew

and aramaic in order to be able to study

the talmud which is judaism’s religious

texts

and i continued those studies full time

for eight years in jerusalem before

returning to the uk to be a community

rabbi

looking back

i have found that my footballing

experiences have left an enduring

relevance

in particular

those experiences taught me two lessons

that would inform my faith

the first is about passion

when i was younger

football was the single path to

transcendence

in a godless universe

the late great legendary liverpool

football manager bill shankly may his

name be praised once famously said

some people believe that football is a

matter of life and death

i’m very disappointed with that attitude

i can assure you

it’s much much more important than that

you see

for the football fan

the game is more than mere entertainment

it cuts at the core of who and what you

are

it can determine your mood for an entire

week

it can affect your relationships even

influence academic performance

when football fans

travel the length and breadth of the

country

to scream their hearts out

for their club

it’s born out of an insatiable love

when they queue outside the club shop

for hours on end

to be the first to buy the new football

kit

it reflects a single-minded dedication

to the cause

and when they spend more money than they

can afford

on a season ticket

it’s because it genuinely matters to

them

for many football fans

football is a religious pursuit the

stadium

is a house of worship

the chants are the hymns

i realized

that if i would apply this same fervor

and dedication to my faith

then my religious growth and spiritual

focus

would be greatly enhanced to put it in

hr terms passion is the transferable

skill

the second lesson

that my faith

gained from the beautiful game

was the notion of team

football

can unify

according to football’s governing body

fifa the 2018 world cup final between

france and croatia

was watched by a live television

audience of 1.1 billion people

football can bring entire continents

together finding common ground

between nations making the world into

more of a team and giving some shared

identity

this is something that

communities and faith communities must

be able to grasp if they are to flourish

further

a team

transcends its constituent elements

when footballers sacrifice for one

another and play their hearts out for

each other on the pitch

their synchronized efforts

create something greater than the sum of

their individual parts

so too

faith communities must be able to

harness individual talent for the

benefit of the group as a whole if they

are to maximize their impact

actually i think of this every time mo

salah

bangs one into the net after some fancy

footwork from bobby firmino and a

cracking cross from trent alexander

arnold

but in turn

my faith

has taught me two lessons

about football and by that i mean life

in general

the first

is to never give up

i had a friend

who had a special talent

he was a juggler and he would go to his

friend’s jewish weddings

and mesmerize the crowd he could keep

five balls in the air at any one given

time

and

he would go there not for money

but to make the bride and groom happy on

their special day

but tragedy struck

when

he was involved in a freak accident

which caused him to lose

the use of one of his hands

we didn’t know how he would carry on

but 18 months later

he turned up at a wedding

and we didn’t know was going to happen

suddenly he took stent for stage

and began juggling those five balls

with only one

hand

tears rolled down my cheeks i was in awe

later he explained

that through his faith

he found the courage

to face his fear

and beat it

similarly

jim thorpe

was an athlete and a devout catholic jim

represented the united states in track

and field at the 1912 olympic games

the problem was

jim woke up

on the day of his competitions and he

discovered that his running shoes had

been stolen

luckily for jim

he found two old shoes that had been

thrown away in a rubbish bin the problem

was that one of the shoes was too big so

he had to wear an extra sock in order

for it to fit

jim was put at a huge disadvantage

because of his makeshift footwear

but through his belief and conviction in

a higher power

he was inspired to win two gold medals

that day

jim’s belief was underpinned by the

notion

that we don’t have to be resigned to the

excuses that have held us back

so what if life hasn’t been fair

what are we going to do about it today

jim’s faith

gave him that power

whatever you woke up with this morning

ill health failed relationships

stolen shoes

don’t let it stop you from running your

race

faith

is the bridge

between

the worlds of i can’t and i can

faith

gives us the hope that we can find that

common language of connection and

inspiration

but further

my faith has taught me about the power

of the human spirit

most of us

are aware

of what happened on the 1st of december

1955

when rosa parks

famously refused to give up her seat on

a segregated montgomery bus

and changed history

and the civil rights movement in america

what fewer people are aware of

is that rosa parks attributed her

courage

to her methodist faith

referring to her resistance

rosa parks once said

i felt that god would give me the

strength to endure whatever would happen

next

god’s peace flooded my soul

and my fear melted away

all people were created equal in the

eyes of god

and i was going to live like a free

person

some years ago

the directors of starbucks the coffee

chain

had an audience with a rabbi

called nassenzvi finkel

this rabbi suffered acutely with

parkinson’s disease

but he was still able

to engage the businessman

he asked them one question

what is the main lesson of the holocaust

one starbucks guy piped up and said

we will never forget

the rabbi said

that’s important

but it’s not the main lesson

another starbucks

businessman said

the lesson is we will never be victims

or bystanders again

and the rabbi said

it’s great but it’s it’s not the right

answer as to what the most important

lesson is

the rabbi went on to explain

that during the holocaust

the prisoners

arrived at the concentration camps

in rail cars

in horrific conditions

the doors were flung

open husbands were separated from wives

parents from children

and when the prisoners went to the

bunkers

only one out of every six prisoners

was given

a blanket

to somehow survive the freezing winter

cold

later that evening

that person had to decide

do i keep that blanket for myself

or do i share it with the five others

who didn’t receive one

the rabbi told them

do you know what the main lesson of the

holocaust is

you’ve got to share the blanket

it was during that defining moment

that those prisoners

realized the power of the human spirit

because they did share their blanket

with the others

we must share ours as well

so my faith

and its practitioners

have taught me that they can take

everything from you

but not the power of your spirit

we must stay true to the divine spark

and humanity

within us

so

i have been a disciple in football

and a player at faith

from the former i learned about passion

and teamwork

and from the latter persistence

and the indomitable strength of the

human spirit

and if anyone was still wondering

i did score that penalty got the hat

trick back of the net

but anyway

in life

and faith like football we face many

challenges

i believe

firmly

that if we can incorporate some of these

values

and these lessons into who we are

and how we behave

then we can surely leave this world

after a long and meaningful life

with a legacy that truly inspires

good luck on your journey thank you