Cathedral pastor Kleine puts community aspect at the centre
The fact that it is not really about storming heaven for the benefit of one’s own team is also made clear by cathedral pastor Kleine, who focuses on the community aspect and the great common goal. Jesus, too, was concerned with forming a team by calling his disciples, relying on team spirit and solidarity among the most diverse types: with their strengths and weaknesses, talents and deficits, successes and defeats, small vanities and big dreams – in order to achieve great things. “There is Peter, who takes on the role of speaker, the captain, so to speak. Some of the disciples develop into strikers, others stay in the background, but are always ready to fend off an attack on Jesus. There are those who talk a lot, and some who don’t say much at all, but just do their own thing when necessary.” Sometimes the Twelve are brimming with self-confidence, other times they are discouraged and depressed.
“Every football match is a celebration of emotions,” says Kleine. “Heroes are praised to the skies and others condemned as failures.” Rituals and symbols are practiced, tears of joy or disappointment are shed. People discuss justice, chance and luck. There is even talk of the “football god.” The pastor emphasizes that sport in general and football in particular can make a valuable contribution to a happy, meaningful life. “The game breaks up time, lets us forget stress and social barriers. Sport and football bring people together: old and young, across cultural and language barriers.”
Be inspired by Jesus’ team
This was most recently seen at the European Championships, says Kleine, recalling the sympathy points that the Scots had gained with their performance in Cologne, while at the same time warning against competition, disrespect and violence: “As long as we only seek community with like-minded people and see the others only as opponents that we want to defeat on the field, football matches are deadly serious. But if we allow ourselves to be inspired by Jesus and his team, we will also seek peaceful and friendly encounters with the people who cheer on other teams.”
Football has the potential to be a celebration of encounters and an opportunity to develop an intense sense of community. And then he concludes by quoting the text from the FC anthem that makes every Cologne football fan’s heart beat faster: “Ov young or old – ov poor or rich, together we are strong FC Cologne, through thick and thin – no matter where, only together we are strong FC Cologne.”
