We have just finished a weekend retreat in Carcavelos, down where the river meet the ocean. The combination of a nice place to stay, good company and fellowship and the fresh September air by the sea has been extremely restful.
Our theme for the weekend was “Jesus and his team” looking at the way in which Jesus developed teamwork among his disciples. The funny thing is that when I went to the internet to look for an appropriate image to introduce the theme, I plugged in the phrase “Jesus e a sua equipa” (Jesus and his team) into Google and came up with something completely different.
“A Bola” is one of the three daily newspapers here exclusively dedicated to football (it gives a measure of how seriously Portugal takes its football) and this headline was the response to my search. Benfica’s manager Jorge Jesus saying, of his team, that we’re on the right path, after a good start to the season! Yes, we have more than one “Jesus” here in Lisbon. And it’s another interesting aspect of Portugal’s ambiguous relationship with its religious heritage, that the press love to make a play on this manager’s surname, in creating their headlines.
But back to the teamwork, and Simão Silva, one of the speakers at the weekend, pointed out how Portugal can produce such world class players in Deco and Ronaldo and yet a team that can barely manage to qualify for the world cup finals (time will tell). Jesus (not the Benfica one) took a bunch of nobodies and created a team that turned the world upside down. Its amazing how being connection to this person, this Jesus, can change a person. Not just individually, but also as he relates to others. I can do all things, says Paul, through Christ who gives me strength. And WE can also do ALL THINGS, as a group of believers, followers, disciples, bound together in love and commitment to Him.
Our theme for the weekend was “Jesus and his team” looking at the way in which Jesus developed teamwork among his disciples. The funny thing is that when I went to the internet to look for an appropriate image to introduce the theme, I plugged in the phrase “Jesus e a sua equipa” (Jesus and his team) into Google and came up with something completely different.
“A Bola” is one of the three daily newspapers here exclusively dedicated to football (it gives a measure of how seriously Portugal takes its football) and this headline was the response to my search. Benfica’s manager Jorge Jesus saying, of his team, that we’re on the right path, after a good start to the season! Yes, we have more than one “Jesus” here in Lisbon. And it’s another interesting aspect of Portugal’s ambiguous relationship with its religious heritage, that the press love to make a play on this manager’s surname, in creating their headlines.
But back to the teamwork, and Simão Silva, one of the speakers at the weekend, pointed out how Portugal can produce such world class players in Deco and Ronaldo and yet a team that can barely manage to qualify for the world cup finals (time will tell). Jesus (not the Benfica one) took a bunch of nobodies and created a team that turned the world upside down. Its amazing how being connection to this person, this Jesus, can change a person. Not just individually, but also as he relates to others. I can do all things, says Paul, through Christ who gives me strength. And WE can also do ALL THINGS, as a group of believers, followers, disciples, bound together in love and commitment to Him.
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