Remembering the bible with football fans

It was the morning after Shearer's first game in charge of Newcastle and the team had gone down 2-0 to Chelsea, when I preached my Shearer Walks on Water Sermon. Even in deepest Essex there was one Newcastle fan in the congregation. This is a suprise in a place made up of ethnic old Londoners, the majority of whom are Spurs supporters like me (there was one Chelsea fan there). The congregation was about one quarter members of the local congregation and three quarters family and friends of the baptismal party. I began the remembering the bible session with the Jesus life-line activity you will find on the Vision4life website. This is usually a good place to start. We had some good ideas: Wise men who visited the baby Jesus (one 5 year old remembered), the Last Supper (one 8 year old): as usual the children are quickest off the mark to shre their remembering as active learners. They seem less inhibited than the adults on the whole. This is clearly one of the main factors affecting our monogenerational ageing churches. We lack the energy and action that these younger ones contribute. Many of us can remember attempts to drive these kind of tendencies out of us as young people. Unfortunatley in most cases it worked and drove almost the whole generation out too. Those of us that did not go are left hanging on by our fingertips in the 'We don't do it like that here' churches.

Eventually we had a shared remembered life in which the Life Giver was also remembered for getting lost in a temple at 12 years of age, getting baptised, turning water into wine, feeding a lot of people with a small amount of fish and bread, telling parables and yes, for walking on water. Afterwards over the tea and coffee more inhibited adults suggested other rememberings including 'the one where he turned over the tables of the bankers in the temple'. So its true, even in deepest Essex, just down the road from where Jade Goodey was married those few short weeks ago, the Life Giver is still remembered and celebrated. Let's hope Alan Shearer lives long enough to keep Newcastle in the Premiership as well.

Jesus saves but Shearer....

... gets the job at Newcastle United for eight games only. However, the whole episode is replete with religious language. They say some folks take this game of two halves very seriously indeed. A BBC reporter said of the unfolding events: 'For these fans, Shearer walks on water'. More examples of remembering the bible? Is it possible to understand the image of Shearer walking on water without remembering who the description originally refers to? Also known as 'The Angel of the North', is Shearer only a God by reference to that other God-human, Jesus? Or is it enough that humans can't walk on water so we must be referring to Shearer's God-like qualities whether or not some minority group still remembers another water-walking bloke two thousand years ago? Bearing in mind the remembered events of the week coming up, I only hope Alan Shearer makes it to eight games and doesn't find himself nailed to the cross-bar in untimely fashion. He's a very nice bloke (even to a Spurs fan).