D.L.

The blue sky wants to break through the dark clouds! It has been raining overnight, and it feels humid. It promises to be a great day; every shop, including La Casa, has a yellow and green flag. Donegal is in the final, and everywhere you go in Donegal, you see the bright yellow and green, supporting the team and hoping for a win this afternoon.

I still need to learn a lot about Irish Football; it looks fun, fast, and exciting. But, what has caught my attention is the support of an entire county getting behind their team.

It is Yellow and Green that is representing a whole County. I don’t want to jump into a biblical preaching mode and tell you that in God’s Kingdom, we are also like a big team, a team that has already won the victory, and our leader is Jesus. That is important, and maybe that will speak to you, but I want to go beyond that.

Supporting someone, supporting a team, is deeper than we think. It means that I willing to embrace the colours, the culture and embrace the team, I see myself as part of it, and I welcome all the values and what the team stands for. It is a commitment, and I have seen during my chaplaincy years at Cliftonville FC how many, if not all, are passionate about their club and want to support and get behind it, to the point that some of them not sleep well before a match!!

This is everywhere. I have travelled a bit, and if I stay longer than three months, I would choose a team to support and get behind! I lived in Madrid for three years and supported Real Madrid; I even got a pre-membership card, which was less than a membership. The demands for becoming a member were enormous!

Today in Dunfanaghy and Carrigart, I will be sharing about Kingdom Followers! I was meant to speak about this last Sunday, but because of my mistake on the reading two weeks ago, this Sunday’s topic is Kingdom Followers. Coincidence?
What does it mean to be Kingdom followers? What or who do we follow?

A few years ago, I had an encounter with Jesus in Central Park, New York. I was sitting on a bench, watching as people remembered John Lennon, when I heard the audible voice of Jesus. He asked me, ‘Dario, why do you follow me?’ That question floored me; even now, it sends shivers down my spine! I told him everything I had done for him, and there was no answer from him; he was silent, waiting for his words to sink in. The distance between my heart and my mind is huge! Then, I understood, and my eyes began to tear up; I was sobbing. People thought that I was overwhelmed by being near the John Lennon memorial, but I was sobbing because I had forgotten how to love, and how to love him!

His love for us is not conditional; it can overwhelm you if you let it, and it has the power to sustain you.
I follow Jesus because He loved me first, and He still does. Jesus told a group of men and women, follow me, they did, not just because he was clever, and he is, not because of his many miracles, some did, not because of his ways of teaching, he did it with authority, but because people and the disciples experience the deep longing that we all have and that is to be fully loved.

Come on Donegal!!