life as we know it::part 3 - Faith and Fussball

Soccer - a national obsession...in summer of 06 all of Europe and most of the world will descend on Germany to see the footballers of the globe fight for national pride.

In Germany, any group of friends can start a soccer team and call it a "club"... you enter your club in the lowest German soccer league (I think there are 9 or so). The 1st German league or "The Bundesliga" is the one of the best in Europe, and players are paid millions. Even in the 4th and 5th leagues - players can make over 4000 Euros per month or more.

A German friend of mine told me "German football is the only thing left we can believe in"... In fact, soccer is deeply rooted in the national pride and hope for the future here.

Twice German soccer restored hope for the German people. In '54 - only 9 years after the complete humiliation of WWII - Germany won the World Cup. This victory is still referred to as "The Miracle in Bern(Switzerland, where the games where played)." Then again, in 1990, less than a year after the reunification of East and West Berlin - Germany won another World Cup, sealing a year of hope and dreams come true.

Recently, a huge scandal hit German soccer - referees were paid off by Russian mafia in Berlin to fix multiple games; players were involved, millions of dollars were lost, and the many Germans were shocked and angry that the one thing they still hoped in was false. As low as the 8th German league (where high school students play) one friend tells me, coaches bribe coaches...

Sadly, the latest scandal seems to underscore an already skeptical attitude - "Is there anything else can we believe in?"

Truly, the shadow of Hitler and WWII hangs over this country. Anything dealing with passionate belief in God or anything, is skeptically regarded as "propaganda". An older German who was 9 years old when Germany lost the war told me "First, the Hitler Youth were taken to camps to sing songs and be indoctrinated. Then, after the Soviet occupation of the East, the Communist youth clubs took kids to camps and sang songs to indoctrinate them - we are skeptical of any groups who take kids to camps and sings songs" - While soccer club anthems are belted with pride and sung in unison by young and old alike - anyone calling young people to passionately follow Jesus and sing praises to God are seen with a skeptical eye.

A German Christian who studies theology tells me that in the next 20 years, Germany will be renewed by a powerful movement of fresh expressions of faith. This is something that we can still believe in, pray for, and work for!