Wish you were here?

No - glad you've gone!

Outside of Christian faith, football is one of my defining passions. Football in general and Arsenal FC in particular. It keeps me entertained, makes me smile, gets me passionate (wife moves kids out of room!!) and never fails to appall me with the greed, cheating, duplicitous goings-on and the lack of loyalty.

I made my first communion at the Highbury home of the Gunners at about the same time I started primary education and grew upon a world where you supported your local team (that's why cousins support Spurs) and the players also tended to have supported the club because many were 'local lads'. There were people like Charlie George who supported, played and continue to work for the club or Pat Rice (parents had veg shop yards from the stadium) who played and then became part of the coaching staff.

Then we had players who came in to the club from other places, even Tottenham, and became heroes. The cost of players rose and contracts began to mean nothing, thanks to a jouneyman player's legal ruling, and now we see loyalty meaning nothing and clubs that were supportive and were once home are dissed and acted against by those Who once wore their shirt. They unsettle players 'tapping them up' (meaning they encourage them to transfer) and act negatively against former clubs.

Oddly, the same things can be found in the Church too! Someone leaves for a new church and they start to make snide or silly comments. They start to point out how well they are doing in the new place and allude to the ills that caused them to go (members, minister, music and the like) and send postcards from the promised land.

Where I am, we are fortunate to have lost few members over the years and have upset a few who wanted to come because my position is that they are welcome if they come with the full knowledge of their minister or pastor and leave with blessing. Not a popular policy with those who want to come, usually sees them go to other (less particular) places.

Now I am sure that this is a contentious or perhaps inflammatory statement but here goes. As painful it has been with people I have known leaving church for somewhere else I can honestly say how grateful I am that they went. Hindsight shows me that generally their going was a bigger blessing to those who were left than the curse some leaving hoped for! Mind you, where I have been a minister I have also sought to send those leaving with a blessing because this is the right way to do it. I was told that those who refuse a blessing (on either side) are more often than not the curse - now there's some food for thought for both sides.

So when we leave a place, leave as a blessing with a blessing.

When people leave us with a curse, be the blessing.

When people leave us with pain, use that pain act as a mirror in which we can see the pain of Christ and follow His footsteps rather than Satan's.

Pax