From the Touchline

Last week, the devastating news broke, Diego Maradona, one of the greatest football legends in the game, died while resting at his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For Argentinians, Maradona was a national hero and, for some, a god. For a cadre of football stars around the world, Maradona was some to be emulated for his on the field skills and abilities and accomplishments. Yet, for many controversy stirred around the person of Diego Armando Maradona and his life — with his almost Jekyll and Hyde personality.

The comments of Diego’s personal trainer, Fernando Signorini, were an inspiration and springboard for today’s episode. In the 2019 documentary, Diego Maradona, by Asif Kapadia, Signorini is quoted as saying:

“For Diego, I would go to the end of the world…But with Maradona, I would’t take a step.”

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I compare and contrast Diego’s life with the life and story of another Biblical figure and in the subsequent reflection, I share two lessons to be learned from looking at both of these people’s lives (you’ll have to listen to learn who the Biblical person is).

Scripture references from today’s episode include:

• I Samuel 8:20
• I Samuel 9 and I Samuel 10
• I Samuel 13:13-14
• I Samuel 12:20-25

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

2020, unlike any other year in recent memory may prove to be the most difficult one yet to find much to give thanks for. But as we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S., we all might just need a little extra encouragement and help in just how to give thanks and some ideas of what to give thanks for.

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I share three practices that can help shape our understanding and orient us toward a better posture of giving thanks — even when we are facing scarcity.

Scripture references from today’s episode include:

• I Thessalonians 5:16-18
• Psalm 136
• Mark 6:30-44

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

It’s my favorite time of year, again. Advent. This season and the lessons that we can learn and the hope that we can build has perhaps never been so important especially in the difficulties that we’ve undergone with COVID-19.

I have shared before about Celtic Advent (listen to last year’s podcast). This season of the church which begins November 15 is a critical time for preparing our hearts and lives for the coming of Jesus.

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I share the three different ways that Celtic Christians understood and celebrated the season of Advent and I talk about three things that are critical for getting us through the waiting seasons and moments of life.

Today, I mention the following books and resources:

• Celtic Daily Prayer Book 1 (devotional book)
• Celtic Daily Prayer, Book Two (devotional book)
• Watch For the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas
• God With Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Christmas
• Celtic Advent: 40 days of devotions to Christmas

Scripture references from today’s episode are from The Message:

• James 1:12

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

Last year, on Saint Martin’s Feast Day (November 11), I created a special podcast (listen to it here) and shared Saint Martin’s story — the one where he famously cuts his Roman cloak in half and covers a beggar shivering from the cold. That famous story is the origin of our English word for chaplain.

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I share another story of Saint Martin, on this, the day when we celebrate his life and faith. This time, Martin is now a Bishop in the church. He is a leader and has a certain place and power that has been given to him (although he is reportedly reluctant to receive it). Again, Martin covers someone who is in need with the clothes off his own back.

In this story of Martin, I look at three different principles that I think chaplains/pastors can take with them into ministry, especially in chaplaincy in sport. People of Christian faith might also adopt these principles — whether a footballer, manager, or connected to the game in another way.

Today, I read a passage from the following book:

• The Works of Sulpitius Severus

Scripture references from today’s episode are from The Message:

• Matthew 25:34-40 (Sheep and Goats Separated)
• Luke 14:7-11 (Table Manners)
• Matthew 18:21-35 (The Unforgiving Servant)

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

Today is a pivotal time in the history of the United States, with a polarized and divisive time politically and socially, there are different attitudes and approaches toward governmental and other types of authority. Even in the sport of football, submitting to authority can be a struggle — whether as an athlete submitting to a manager, a coach at odds with a technical director, or, even, new ownership at a club. Of course, there is corruption and abuse of power at the lowest and highest and levels of the game and replete throughout all authoritative places, but how are we to live and respond?

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I look at the crucial text of Romans 13:1-5 and what submission to authority looks like for Christian persons. There are three principles that I draw out of these 5 verses, that merit consideration for one who follows Jesus and the way that we ought to react and respond to the different people and positions of authority that we find ourselves placed into and also underneath.

A hero of the faith who lived out the tension of submitting to authority is Dietrich Bonhoeffer. You can read more of his fascinating journey in this fantastic book:

• Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
• Letters and Papers from Prison

Scripture references from today’s episode are (linked below) :

• Romans 13:1-5
• Romans 13:9-10
• Acts 4:19-20
• I Corinthians 13 (MSG)

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

For the Christian athlete, sometimes questions can arise around the morals and ethics that we find in the midst of the Beautiful Game and in sport, in general. Is competition good? Is it healthy? Is it right? There is a historic tension at times felt and perceived between one’s faith and the competitive nature that we find at work in the game of football.

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I briefly examine the spirit of competition and offer, what I believe to be a few benefits the can be derived from a healthy spirit of competition — both for the individual and for a team.

Scripture references from today’s episode is linked below :

• Proverbs 27:17
• Philippians 1:18
• Hebrews 10:24

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

Have you ever felt alone in the midst of the Beautiful Game? Alone in your faith? Alone in a different country, where you don’t speak the same language? Where it is difficult to find community or ways to live out your faith?

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I am joined by American Goalkeeper, John Hollinger. John joins me via zoom from Madrid, Spain while he waits out a 4-week lockdown in Northern Ireland where he has been on trial. John shares about his journey as a goalkeeper and his faith journey, what it’s like to be in a foreign country and trying to live out your faith, and we play a fun little game called “Reflex” where we try to stump each other with different words and phrases.

Scripture references from today’s episode is linked below as well as John’s podcast and website, A Footballer’s Faith.

• John 17:13-21
• A Footballer’s Faith (website)
• A Footballer’s Faith (podcast)

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

In the midst of uncertain and difficult time, we may find ourselves flat on our back and needing help to stand back up. We need a good, trusted friend — someone who gets us, someone who understands us to help us back up after we’ve been knocked down.

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I share a story of two men who extend a hand and helped each other through a difficult time. In II Kings 10:15-16 we read about Jehu and Jehonadab. At a time of great civil unrest and national turmoil, Jehu extends a hand of friendship and allegiance to Jehonadab. I reflect on our need during difficult times to have a friend who can extend a hand and help us.

Scripture reference from today’s episode is linked below and the adapted poem that I offer as a prayer at the end can be found in Celtic Daily Prayer, Volume 1, page 538:

• II Kings 10:15-16
• Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
• Proverbs 18:24
• Celtic Daily Prayer – Book 1

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

We are well into the fall season now — leaves are changing, there is a chill in the night air — and the football season here in the U.S. is soon to come to a close with end-of-year tournaments before the cold of winter sets in.

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I reflect on the similarities between the harvest season and the football season. Reflecting on poetic words from Kenneth McLeod’s book Road to the Isles and also the apostle Paul’s words found in Galatians 6:9-10, I hope that these can be words of encouragement — whether this fall season sees you reaping a bountiful reward or has you feeling somewhat empty-handed.

Scripture reference from today’s episode is linked below:

• Galatians 6:9-10

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.

In the Kenney household, the fifth week of the month is something special — because mom and dad are on for doing the typical household chores. Yes, each of my four girls, absolutely love when a month has a 5th week — they are jubilant and overjoyed with being able to get a “break” from loading dishes and setting table and such.

Today, on the From the Touchline podcast, I reflect on where else in life and in football we might need a “5th week” — a bit of rest from the work that we typically have. I briefly touch on themes of sabbath and sabbatical, something that I have podcasted about before (see Jan 1, 2020 podcast) but also talk a bit more about the concept of the 50th Year of Jubilee found in Leviticus 25:8-55 and it’s place in the life and history of the nation of Israel.

Scripture reference from today’s episode and also the book mentioned with the adapted prayer:

• Leviticus 25:8-55
• Ray Simpson, Celtic Blessings: Prayers for Everyday Life

From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer).

Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.