I volunteer as a board member for a local organization that gets people together for activities. It helps to link older people who have fewer contacts with others, helps those who don’t have much money for food, is a place for caregivers to come and rest while their partners with Alzheimer are cared for and tries to help neighbors get to know one another. One of the other board members is a young man who also happens to play American Football for the Maastricht Wildcats.
In the US this might not seem so strange - except that this young man is recently into his 30’s. In the US every self-respecting high school has some sort of football team. But if you talk about football here, you usually mean soccer. Everyone plays soccer. There are even teams for 5 year-olds.
American Football is something else all together. But Maastricht has a real team, in the first division of the Dutch league. And I was invited by this young man to come watch the Super Bowl with his teammates. So I made sure that I had taken a quick nap and headed off to see if Kansas City could beat Philadelphia (I am a Bronco’s fan, but the Chiefs are a close second for me).
I spent much of the evening/morning talking football in Dutch and English. Many of the players are international, so speak English. Most of the people present were Eagles fans, so it made for a fun tension. And the game did not disappoint. The most interesting thing for me were some of the conversations.
One of the players was introduced as “our church-going player” who also sang in the choir. I was introduced to him as someone who would know what he experienced, since I was also an active Christian.
During the game two ads were shown about “He gets us… Jesus”. One of the guys I was sitting with asked: “Who is this?”
I looked a bit surprised and asked “Jesus?”
He responded, “Yeah, I know who Jesus is. But an ad like that cost big bucks. Who is behind it?”
This led to a conversation about what the ads were saying and how the focus was on Jesus. I do not really know who paid for the ad, but it gave me an opportunity to focus conversation on Jesus as well - for a moment. In the meantime my board member friend had apologized for his rough language and we continued with good topics, including football and life.
By 4 am we were all cleaning up and heading out to our cars or bikes to go home in the very thick mist that had set in. Everyone was happy. Well, no. Me and one other fan of the Chiefs was happy. The others were resigned and tired. I am sure some of them would need to study for the next day (some are students). Others would have to go to work. But I was thankful for this opportunity to get to know some people because of a sport event.
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:2-6
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