Can cricket save us? I’m certainly starting to wonder whether the determined Dunkirk-like spirit that rescued England from a humiliating Ashes defeat may actually carry a message for the Church, calling believers to do something similar.
Following our seemingly miraculous one-wicket triumph in Leeds, I feel constrained to write a follow-up to my earlier piece celebrating our World Cup win – also in dramatic fashion, by a single run.
My point then was how the Lord’s (cricket ground) spectacle was a perfect advertisement for the game, winning over the hearts of many non-cricket lovers through much suspense-filled exhilaration.
Likewise, the real Gospel of how Jesus died so we could live is also bound to win many unsuspecting hearts, if only put across in the same swashbuckling, bold-as-brass manner demonstrated at the crease by Ben Stokes.
Pointing the Way to Life
With so few attending Sunday School these days, not many of our young generation know that Jesus is more than a figure of history; that he is actually alive today, ready to give them “life that is truly life” (1 Tim 6:19).
He wants them to understand life’s true meaning and purpose, and know things beyond their dreams (1 Cor 2:9), inspiring to action men and women who can help make the world a better place.
Millennials the world over are striving to do something ultimately useful - to make their mark on society - through climate change protests and the like. But though these are blind alleys leading nowhere, the Gospel takes you on the straight and narrow path that leads to life.
There just aren’t enough of us pointing the way. And how shall they hear without a preacher (Rom 10:14)?
With so few attending Sunday School these days, not many of our young generation know that Jesus is more than just a figure of history.
Our Finest Hour
I’m not alone in comparing Sunday’s near-miracle win at Headingley to the evacuation of 338,000 soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940.1 But it’s that sort of fightback against the forces of darkness we now require in Britain, though we can’t simply rely on our own skill and knowhow, or even on dogged determination.
More than anything, we must depend on the God of our fathers and the battle must be fought in prayer. As I made clear when commenting on Dunkirk a fortnight ago, it wasn’t just ‘true grit’ that saved us then; it was the nationwide response to the King’s call to prayer.
What is more, our spiritual focus and courage amid today’s crisis need to match the lion-hearted physical aggression on the cricket pitch of Ben Stokes, so that the words of Winston Churchill (referring to the Battle of Britain) could be adapted to modern prayer warriors: “never before in the field of spiritual conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few”.
In this way we may yet see our “finest hour” in the same way that cricketing legend Geoffrey Boycott described Sunday’s heroics as “the finest moment” in over 50 years of watching and playing the game.
As the Battle of Britain was conducted in the air, so the battle being fought on their knees by Christians is “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).
A Gospel Story
It’s almost 100 years since England last achieved a comparable run-chase. After a dismal first innings of 67, we were faced with a seemingly impossible target of 359. Dedicated batting displays slowly built up faint hopes but, with the score at 284 for 9, the writing was on the wall with Stokes about to run out of partners – or so we thought.
But then the miracle happened, thanks to a flurry of sixes along with the Aussies being denied by a botched run-out attempt and an lbw appeal that seemed justified. The jubilant hosts thus inched home victorious.
I’m not alone in comparing Sunday’s near-miracle win to the Dunkirk evacuation - it’s that sort of fightback against the forces of darkness we now require in Britain.
And the man once charged with bringing the game into disrepute over a brawl in 2017 could soon be honoured for raising this most English of sports to glittering new heights.
It’s truly a ‘gospel’ story – the word means ‘good news’, after all. The Gospel of Christ has a glorious history of lifting the disreputable, the downtrodden and the broken-hearted and transforming them into men and women of valour, stature and integrity.
I think of a friend of mine, built a little like Stokes, who served several prison stretches for violence, but is now a man of peace sharing the message of his Saviour with all who will hear him, including members of the professional rugby league club for which he used to play.
The Apostle Paul, who described himself as “the worst of sinners” (1 Tim 1:16), also owed his transformation to a supernatural encounter with Jesus.
Friends, let’s take courage from England’s cricketers in our battle to regain control of enemy territory. This could be our finest hour!
Notes
1 See Leo McKinstry, Daily Mail, 26 August 2019
