Is it Football or is it Worship...?

The cheering, the shouting, the clapping, the singing together, the arms held aloft, the emotion... A television audience of 31m joined in cheering on the England team in the final win of the Euros. Strong emotions. Strong physical reactions. Strong yearnings (I was emotionally exhausted!). But is it just football? Is it more than patriotism, more than 55 years of hurt? Is there something deeper happening? Is there a deeper call..a deeper yearning...is something being drawn out of us...something spiritual...a longing to worship. A longing to be known? Hands held aloft with passionate singing is not exclusive to sports fans - in many churches up and down the land congregations do the same (or they will again after 19th July!). There is a deep longing within to worship - to give ourselves wholly to another. To reach out. To yearn. To Hope. To live for. Is it football or is it something more...?