World Cup 2010, South Africa.
Okay, so I'm not a soccer aficionado, but it was pretty fun to be living in Africa while the World Cup was taking place on the same continent -- to feel the energy of each game, the anticipation of each elimination, and the pride of cheering for each African country as if you were one of the team. Having a TV qualified you to be a gathering place for passersby to join together in fraternity, whether you were at a car wash, a vegetable stand, or a sports bar. I don't have a TV, but when there were night games, cheers and shouts echoed through the neighborhood giving auditory clues to every save, miss, and goal.
Two nights ago, Spain trumped the Netherlands in the last game of the 2010 World Cup. Ugandans joined crowds around the world to watch and cheer for "their" team, but before the victor was named, three bombs exploded here in Kampala killing over 70 people - one in a Ethiopian restaurant and the other two in a rugby stadium about 2 miles from where I live.
"Six degrees of separation" is the idea that everyone is, at most, six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that any two people can be connected by "a friend of a friend" in six steps or fewer.
On the wall behind our kitchen table we have a large map of Africa. Almost every time I sit there to eat, I find myself studying the countries, cities, and flags. Today, as I looked at the expansive continent of Africa, three countries stood out - Uganda, South Africa, and Somalia. How radically odd that a world-uniting soccer game could be used as a convenient occasion for bloody violence marking political, religious, and military displeasure.
I'm not a great athlete, I usually lack the coordination to catch a ball thrown at me, and I rarely attend sporting events. But the language, action, and camaraderie of sports seems to be universal. Perhaps one of the reasons we, as cultures, peoples and nations love sports is that, no matter the particular event, there is resolution. A sermon I listened to recently talked about this: "[Sports] is the only section of the newspaper where the competition stops because someone actually won and the game's over. My whole life, I've been looking at the front page of the paper...and everyday I see - Israel and Palestine, still at it. The war never stops. Except on the sports page." Spain may have won the World Cup, but elsewhere, war still rages and lives are still lost.
Throughout history, war persists - between countries that don't share borders and within the borders of a single nation. This last Spring I visited Rwanda during the time that marked the anniversary of the country's genocide. I talked to survivors and read museum plaques that told how ordinary gardening tools were used as weapons for neighbors to kill neighbors and for family to betray one another. "The war never stops."
How am I supposed to think, to respond to this world and its endless tragedies and self-inflicted wounds? How am I supposed to speak comfort to my friend who lived through the bombing or to the man who lost his whole family in the genocide?
My only Hope is to make an introduction - "I know someone who, like you was beaten, tortured, and hated...His name is Jesus."
Isaiah 53:5: "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."
My Hope is to tell them, "This Jesus, He SEES. He sees all the hurt that has ever been done to you and the people you love. And He will be the righteous judge to any wrong ever done."
Isaiah 3:13-15: The LORD stands up to plead, and stands to judge the people. The LORD will enter into judgement with the elders of His people and His princes: 'For you have eaten up the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in you houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?' Says the LORD GOD of hosts."
My Hope is to tell them, "There is coming a day when there will be no more war. In fact, a day when weapons of destruction will be made into tools of cultivation and provision...a day when we won't even have the plans or instincts to fight one another."
Isaiah 2:4: "He will judge between the nations, and will settle disputes for many people. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore."
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 -- This is the Jesus I follow, the God I love, my Hope for today and for the future.
** Quote taken from the sermon, "Walking in the Light of the Lord With Humble Hope," by Erik Thoennes, Grace EV Free Church, La Mirada, CA. URL: http://www.graceevfree.org/tools-for-growth/sermons/#series_isaiah-glory-to-the-righteous-one
