大象传媒

From Jim Harris, Art Historian:

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So, I went to church yesterday.听 Obviously I needed some spiritual sustenance since, as both Wimbledon and the World Cup were resting we found ourselves in the literally horrifying situation of no actual sport happening. Except for the Grand Prix, the cricket, the Tour de France, the rugby league鈥� Oh.

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Now I am a Reader at church, an odd role where I鈥檓 not a vicar, but I do have to dress up in robes. To be honest, to an outsider, there鈥檚 not much difference: man + dress + church = vicar.听 In fact, though, I have the uniform, but not the same authority.

I鈥檓 not alone in this.听 Referees, for example, wear the same shirt 鈥� but they don鈥檛 get treated the same.听 It鈥檚 impossible to believe that the poor man getting harangued in the England-Colombia game wielded as much power as the guy who reffed the quarter-final against Sweden.

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Clearly, real authority lives somewhere else. So if a title doesn鈥檛 automatically confer respect听 - whether it鈥檚 referee or vicar - and if a uniform doesn鈥檛 necessarily indicate authority, how can we tell, in a world of clamouring voices, which ones we should listen to?听 Who are the real leaders?

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This was a problem even for Jesus. He once went to preach in his hometown and the people couldn鈥檛 get past the fact that he was just the son of the local carpenter.听 So they didn鈥檛 listen, they took offence and treated him like some worthless upstart. Jesus taught that we鈥檇 recognise people worth following not by what they said or what they looked like but by what they did: by their fruits.听 Do they say kind words or do they do kind things?听 Do they ask for commitment or do they offer commitment?

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It鈥檚 pretty obvious that in the leader of our nation, and I refer of course to Mr Gareth Southgate, we have found a man worth following: someone who鈥檚 not all beard and waistcoat but full of integrity. I suppose I ought, therefore, to round off with something like, 鈥榮o, whatever happens this week, as a nation we can take pride in that鈥�.听 But I can鈥檛.听 Instead, I鈥檒l say this. It鈥檚 been good to see a team led like England have been at the World Cup, with real, earned, deserved authority.

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And because of that鈥�it鈥檚 coming home.