Hello and thank you so much for downloading episode 435 of the Speak Life Podcast. My name is Thomas Thoroughgood, media producer at Speak Life, and we've taken a bit of a break from the Speak Life podcast for a variety of reasons. Glenn has been doing a lot of travelling, so has Nate actually, various mission events. And we were busy working on our Christmas video. Have you seen our 2022 Christmas video? Christmas Coming Home, a Three Lions parody, with Nate Morganlock playing the characters of the Nativity. It's a fun video. Do go and check that out if you haven't done so already. You can find it on our YouTube channel, youtube.com forward slash speaklifemedia or any one of the socials, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. It's on all of those. So we had a lot of fun with that. But now we're back, back with the Speak Life Podcast. And it's a conversation between Glenn and Nate talking about the Christmas video. And then looking at Jack Grealish and the World Cup and Jesus as our great high priest. So all sorts of areas being brought together in this conversation. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful. And I will hand over to Glenn and Nate.
SPEAKER_06Hello and welcome to Speak Life. My name is Glenn Scrivener, and I'm joined by Nabellock. Hello. Hello. Today we're talking about putting the cringe into Christmas. Cringe must be what we need. Yes. And you think that cringe is kind of at the heart of Christmas, do you?
SPEAKER_05Is this a I think there is something that uh about Christmas which is a little bit sort of slightly kind of awkward.
SPEAKER_06Naff.
SPEAKER_05Embarrassing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Daggy if you're Australian. Not naff. Daggy.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Daggy. Is that your big dag.
SPEAKER_06You know what a dag is? It probably once you once you translate what a dag actually is, um, it's a bit gross. But it's in sheep farming. And it's the end of the sheep that's often quite fly blown for for various reasons. And you lop off the tail, which is the dag. There you go. So that's Christmas. That's Christmas. Christmas is a big daggy.
SPEAKER_05So what we've been thinking, I mean, this is like the idea of like the novelty Christmas jumper. Yes. Um like tinsel is supposed to be, you know, it's like tasteful decorations and do go for the tasteful decorations.
SPEAKER_06Tinsel and tawdry go together, aren't they?
SPEAKER_05You just embrace that. So I think I think there's something about Christmas itself which which kind of lays bare our pretensions and our sense of, you know, um propriety.
SPEAKER_06Yes.
SPEAKER_05And uh this year we sort of decided to embrace the cringe.
SPEAKER_06Embrace the cringe for cringemess. And uh we we did our Christmas coming home video, yeah. Which people are struggling to wrap their heads around.
SPEAKER_05They really are.
SPEAKER_06Because Nate plays all the roles. If you haven't seen it, um we'll we'll overlay some uh visions from Christmas Coming Home.
SPEAKER_05But also and taking so we took the Nativity, the kind of classic tea towels and tinsel nativity, and then we've kind of put that with another kind of cringy thing, which is uh Three Lions, Football's Coming Home. Yep. Which is just a comedy song in lots of ways. Yeah. Um catchy. Catchy, uncomedic. Um so yes, that's what we put together, and yeah, people it makes sense, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_06You know?
SPEAKER_05Well, we said it was about fun. So kind of anyone who didn't who didn't say this is the best thing ever, yeah, we could then sort of align as being power. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06That was my response on Twitter. Okay, Scrooge, whatever. If you don't like this, it's like you're self-condemned.
SPEAKER_05Um because no one wants to be Scrooge.
SPEAKER_06Exactly.
SPEAKER_05Like, does anyone want to be cringy? Um and it's interesting, so it's not quite cringy, but it sort of embraces that kind of awkward and the the idea of something being humiliating. Was uh John Lewis's Christmas advert this year. Loved it, yeah, which is a return to form after a few years of kind of trying to do different things, they've kind of gone back to that very classic formula of saying it's a very basic story, uh told in montage, very few lines of dialogue, with a kind of um yeah with a uh a popular song covered in a slightly funky way, um, and then played out um so yeah, it's called The Beginner, and it's about uh a man in his about sort of forties, you'd say, late 30s, 40s, um sort of vintage, yeah. And he's starting out uh as a skateboarder, and so you know, you kind of watch him and it's super simple, right? So just show the montage, little improvement as he kind of goes along, show him skateboarding in all sorts of settings, he's got a skateboard under his desk, and you know, he's kind of uh talking to his uh his wife about kind of injuries he's kind of getting. I think he puts a bag of peas on his knee at one point, and it's just great because he's um he's trying something which uh kind of makes him look a bit stupid, a bit foolish, because uh the idea that you're going to publicly uh open yourself out to being rubbish at something when there might be loads of people around you who are way better and and uh doing this thing.
SPEAKER_06And there's a sense of who do you think you are? Like, do you think you're that young that you can carry this look after old man, geriatric?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you know. Uh yeah, I think there's there's that's part of it as well. It's like, are you is this a midlife crisis? A guy who's who's um just you know always wanted to do this, but now he's gonna really do it.
SPEAKER_06And he's in the wrong station of life. Like this is this is a teenager's game, and now who does he think he is kind of transgressing on that territory?
SPEAKER_05And it builds, and it builds, and it builds, and it builds, and then we're thinking, Oh, okay, what's gonna happen? And then as they're preparing for Christmas lunch, uh the doorbell goes, and so they scurry up to the door, uh, and there's a a lady there with a young girl who uh, as you see from the caption, is is uh in care and she's coming to spend Christmas Day with them, and what is she holding? A skateboard. A skateboard. And so we we suddenly see uh without need to be told that this guy has gone through all this awkward pain, suffering, humiliation so that he can embrace this girl in love and have something in common with her, which is the heart of Christmas.
SPEAKER_06Cringe for the sake of connection.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so God humiliates so in Christ uh sorry, Christ in his humiliation uh steps down from glory, does not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing in Philippians 2, taking on the nature of a servant um and being founded appearance of man, uh suffered and submitted himself to death. So so that very idea that what is Christmas is about, it's about God coming to earth, stooping, yeah, and in that stooping connecting with us, yeah, relating to us in love.
SPEAKER_06And at the nativity, you can imagine I guess the frankincense and myrrh smell quite good, and you've got the sort of the royalty of the magi coming, yeah, and they have uh plenty of decorum, but you've also got in the classical nativity, don't don't write in. I know that these things happen at different times, but shepherds coming with the smelliness of the field, you know, some are some are coming with the smell of the field, and some are coming with the smell of the temple. Yeah, and yet yeah, they are all welcome at this Christmas. And again, as we think about what is decorum at Christmas, um you might go to King's College, Cambridge, and listen to a Nine Lessons and Carols and have that kind of incense experience, but you also might put on the Rudolph jumper and go to the the workdo, which is not full of decorum. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And it's and but and it's it's every it's s everyone's kind of doing it ironically in a way, but but you could there's only so many ironic ways you can wear a uh a crazy Christmas jumper.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Before you just gotta say, actually, this is what we are doing. I quite like this. Yeah. And stepping into it and sort of the festive joy. Yeah. And for a a couple of people have said about our Christmas video, like, what what is it? What are we actually going for? And I and I think I kind of I settled on a response that was basically it's festive joy to which the world is invited. Yeah. And people have sort of asked, you know, is our video an evangelistic video? And I'm like, well, no, it doesn't kind of it doesn't kind of walk through the evangel.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Um, but it's festive joy to which the world is invited. But then maybe more evangelism should be.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_06Festive joy to which the world is invited. And I I think of a local church that puts on a a uh um pantomime every year, yeah. And they have to put on multiple showings of the pantomime because there is just not enough room for the friends of the church. You know, there's not a lot of decorum in the church pantomime, and the vicar always has to play ridiculous roles and kind of be dressed down in this sort of canotic way, shall we say, you know, in terms of self-emptying and um but but that's probably their best evangelistic event of the year. And it's just it's Christians having fun with Christ at the centre. And hey, world if you want to come in.
SPEAKER_05So here here's a question. What how is that different from just doing something entertaining and fun in order to get people in? And a bit of a kind of bait and switch, and so once we get them in there. See, they like pantomime, so let's do a pantomime and then might maybe they'll come to church. What's the difference?
SPEAKER_06Well, maybe like is would you put the pantomime on even if the neighbours didn't show up? Like would you would you would you would you enjoy just okay, God's given us gifts together as a church and we just enjoy one another's company? Yeah. So is it genuinely festive joy to which the world is invited, or is it bait for the world to come in and then ha shut the doors. Now I'm gonna walk you through a gospel presentation. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And it's the idea that you're we're going to be doing this anyway. We're celebrating. Yes. And you can join us.
SPEAKER_06Bethlehem is the house of bread, not the house of bait. Oh you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_05Just talk us through that. Just come on, give us a little Hebrew lesson.
SPEAKER_06Oh yeah, bait lahem. Is bread, you know, the house of bread. But but also, yeah, like the bait and switch evangelism at any time of the year is a bad idea. Yeah. Um, but it's we're we're not offering bait and then as though like the the Jesus bit is a hook. Like, ha, got you. Now we're gonna give you the nasty thing, which is like Jesus. Yeah. But it's it's not, it's offering bread, it's offering bread. And the first people to whom we offer bread are the people in the house of bread, the people who know they have a hunger and a need for Jesus. And so I think so much evangelism unfortunately sort of leapfrogs over the church and then goes out to the world and thinks, oh, what is the world interested in? And then and then tries to do that rather than we are we are getting excited about Jesus together. Yeah. And I I think we can probably say um we probably wouldn't have put as much effort into putting it onto YouTube. But I think we might have had an idea about Christmas coming home, you know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and it's so it's the just the idea of doing parody as a kind of you know, there's something just fun and funny about taking a line which is said about one thing and then rewriting that line to make it about something else.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And you know, it's not satire, it's it's it is joyful, and it's yeah, just saying, here's this really catchy lightning seeds uh tune, yeah, which um everyone loves to sing along to, and changing the words is not that difficult. You need to just sort of switch around a little bit. Um and you've got something which is is playful and and in the sense of not taking yourselves too seriously. Which I can be prone to sometimes. I mean, people might not think that if they watch the Christmas Coming Home uh video. But just of you know, uh a smile and a wink and just saying, look, you know, this is just fun. And um, you know, I'm we're not here to kind of make ourselves look good.
SPEAKER_06It's uh which again is the the ultimate Christmas. I mean, Jesus does not look good in a sense, you know. He you know, someone else has to change his nappy. You know, he participates in mammalian birth, he's wriggling, he's the he's the word who was there before creation, and he's speechless. And so this is this is not about him managing his you know appearance to the world. And yeah, so there's something there's something kind of cool and kind of joy-filled about that self-forgetfulness.
SPEAKER_05And before before we get on to the um a particular aspect of this whole kind of, you know, is there actually more going on between football and Christmas? Maybe. Yeah. Um what about those nine lessons in Carol's? Uh is there a place for that? Is there a place for saying actually let's do something that's not cringe worthy?
SPEAKER_06That is that is embracing the highest aesthetics that we know and yeah, because in in that nativity you do have the highest, you know, you do have those kings with their gold and their frankincense and their myrrh, and you have the shepherds in their bo you know, and and the nativity scenes are deliberately cosmic like that, and embracing you know, f from from the height of the magi down to the lowliness of the shepherds, and and and from the heights of in terms of creature, you know, from the heights of the angels way down to the animals. Yeah. It's uniting all of that. And and so there's there's the kitchen, there's the highbrow. Yeah. You know, there's the but the absolutely, I mean, it has called forth uh the greatest works of art and pieces of music and architecture that humanity has ever seen.
SPEAKER_05So And I suppose in in a way, what one of the things we often talk about Speak Life is from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. And and the particular cultural expression with which that mouth speaks, or in which that mouth speaks, is going to be different depending on who people are and what their uh personal preferences and dispositions are. And to see that uh the gospel um and and Christmas in particular in this sense is is big enough to it has a great enough scope to to include both. Um and so it can be Darum Cathedral, and it can be Nine Lessons and Carols, and it can also fit in with um you know, someone dressed as all the characters of the Tim T singing along to Skinner, Badil, and Brody.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. And and even like so the the um pantomime that has the Vicar like playing a silly role, yeah, that depends on that sense of hierarchy as well. Like, because you you don't have a come down if there's no height from which to come down. Yeah. Um, even even the lowbrow kind of depends on the highbrow and vice versa. So yeah. And ever and everyone's welcome. Everyone's welcome.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Find your place around the manger. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, around the light of the world. We orbit around the light of the world. Yeah. Um let's have a think about Jack Grealish. Yes. Uh you were uh that may name may be very familiar to lots of people. Uh he is an uh a Manchester City and England football player. Uh used to play for Aston Villa. Sorry, Villa fans, yeah. Yeah, but then money got involved. Um he's also been uh I think he might have broken some COVID restrictions back in the day. Uh but uh you were preaching in um Durham Cathedral at a carol service on Monday, was that right? Yes, that's right. And from the esteemed pulpit, you proclaimed the name of Jack.
SPEAKER_06I did the I did the worm. Why would you do that? I I well, because Jack Grealish did the worm, and we'll explain why Jack Grealish did the worm in a second. But um, yes, my my three points. I I was gonna go with a different three points, but literally in the carol before I was preaching, I recognized. Oh, I can go for three W's here. There is the Word, there is the world, and there is the Worm. And so if you have John One open in front of you, the Word makes itself obvious. In the beginning was the Word, and then through him all things were made, so that's the world, and there was a world of darkness, right? The light shines in the darkness. Where does the worm come from? Well, Jack Grealish, when he scored the sixth goal of England against Iran. The sixth? The sixth goal of man. Where was the seventh?
SPEAKER_05Well, they rested, didn't they? They had a rant.
SPEAKER_06Ah, the wor the fourth W. But yes, so he scored against Iran, and then he he did the worm as a goal celebration. And he was asked afterwards why did you do the worm? And he said, Well, I promised to do it. Who did you promise to do it to? Finley Fisher.
SPEAKER_05Finley Fisher.
SPEAKER_06An 11-year-old boy from Manchester, a Man City fan, writes to Jack Grealish months ago and says, Um, I know your sister has cerebral palsy. I have cerebral palsy. Are you a good brother to your sister? And they get into this correspondence and eventually he meets Jack Grealish, his great hero. And uh there's a beautiful bit when they meet, and in fact, maybe maybe we can have a look at it. Um there's this beautiful bit where Finley says to Jack that he's used to playing backyard football with his dad, and his dad never lets him win. And then Jack Grealish, well, we'll we'll see.
SPEAKER_01Let's have a look. To Jack, my name is Finley, and I am 11 years old. I'm a huge Man City and England fan. I have cerebral pausy, and I saw that your sister has cerebral pausy too. Are you a good big brother to her? I love the way you are really good with your sister, you really get it. You always have her there with you, and you look really proud, especially when we won the league, boom. I wish there were more people in the world just like you who treat people with disabilities the same as anyone else. It makes me really happy when I see you, a famous footballer, know what it's like to live with people with cerebral pausing. My sisters are really good with me, but they can be annoying. My mum always helps me the best she can. They don't make football boots for kids like me with cerebral pausing. I have ended up kicking my mum in the head. My dad is really good and takes me to Man City on a Monday to train, even though he's Fort United. He plays with me in the garden and he never lets me win. I will one day. You're gonna have to invite me around Finland and me and you can me and you can team up on him, and then I'm sure we'll win. I love to play football. I play at Man City on a Monday night at the disability football. It is my favourite day of the week. I can't move as fast as my brain can see the past. I don't always get picked because I am slow or I get put in trouble. I then get really frustrated, lose my temper, get upset, and then get in trouble. Another Xbox for a week, which means another FIFA. I hope you get this letter. You're my hero and the best big brother to your sister. It is my dream to meet you and give you a high five because I can't handshake and meet you in real life. Imagine meeting your idol from Finlay. God bless him.
SPEAKER_02Let's see this.
SPEAKER_01Definitely.
SPEAKER_02Definitely. Thank you so much for sending me this letter. It's a letter that made me smile from start to finish. It's amazing to hear that you come to the CFA on a Monday night to play football. I would love to come and say hello. The most important thing about football is playing with a smile on your face. There's no reason to get frustrated or get upset because as long as you try your best, that is a moment that matters. And it also means that you keep playing FIFA. When I found my mum always enough for me in difficult moments as well, and that helps so much. It sounds like your sisters, mum, and dad are the same. Finally, can't give the same kind words about me being a brother to my sister. Keep smiling and most importantly, keep enjoying your football. I even close my sunshine with this letter. I hope you like it. Last is Jack.
SPEAKER_01Hello, friendly.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You want your trunk for me?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01What do you want to let her play?
SPEAKER_02No, we won the tournament.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you just won the tournament. How did you play?
SPEAKER_02Pretty good.
SPEAKER_01Pretty good like a mum. I just want to say a big thank you for your little robots in it. It really touched me. Um, did you get mum back?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Mummy, did you like it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I liked it.
SPEAKER_01And then if I do, then I'll do it for you, right? I can't do the one. I can't even do it. I might get injured. You want to do this? I'll do that for you, right? I promise. But remember. I'll put a school. Next time I'm going to go. Next time I score, yeah. Alright then. I'll do that for you. So what is it? Just like this, yeah?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Alright, ideal.
SPEAKER_06Hero, my brother. The brother hero. My brother, my hero. Yeah. So I love that. I love that bit. You know, I I bet if I play on your team, we'll finally beat your dad. Finally. We'll finally win. Yeah. And just so why did I talk about the worm? Well, yeah. Jesus is this ultimate champion who comes and joins Team Earth, a failing team headed for relegation. Yeah. And he comes and he says, I know everything gets the better of you. And you score a few own goals of your own. I bet. I bet if I'm your champion. Yeah. You know, then then my victory can be your victory. And you know, the the beautiful thing happened in the World Cup. Yeah. Jack scores the sixth goal. And he does the he does whatever that version is of the worm. Yeah. You know, he doesn't do the breakdancing thing.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, the breakdancing worm is much more difficult. Daniel Sturridge, who used to play for Liverpool in England, he did that when uh when he used to score. Um and yeah, Jack Greenish did it and uh then sort of told it was a was it an interview. It was a post-match interview, yeah. And he tells them um yeah, that was where he did it.
SPEAKER_06He did it at the World Cup. He did it at the World Cup. Yeah, he thought it was gonna be at the Premier League. Instead, it's on the world's biggest stage. And then I live in the post-match interview, he said, that one's for you, Finley. And uh yeah, so what is what is Christmas? It is the great hero joining Team Earth, getting victory over Sin Death, the world, the devil. Yeah. And he says, That one's for you. Yeah, you know, beautiful.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and Christ becoming our brother, yeah, sharing our humanity, um, and then being our hero going forward. Yeah. And of course it's such a big theme in in scriptures. Um I mean, you literally get David goes to his brothers and the battle against Goliath, uh, against the Philistines, and then David goes out, is watched by his brothers who are sort of looking over the who first are like deriding him.
SPEAKER_06How dare you? You just you just see it a spy on us.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And and then he goes up and he uh as the brother who is the hero, who is the champion of Israel, goes up and defeats defeats their enemy. Um but also it's uh it's uh it's actually an essential part of the priest idea or the or the role of the priest, and but potentially this is an aspect of the gospel that we uh have overlooked a little bit as we've uh emphasized other elements of the work of Christ.
SPEAKER_06Yes. Yes, very much so. Well, I th I I I don't hear a lot of people using the champion analogy. I'm I'm always using it. I'm trying, I'm trying to get people to kind of use it as the the one who wins and then we celebrate, though we have not you know, we've not expended a calorie of effort in the victory. Yeah. And you you might have been standing on the sofa yelling referee at the TV screen. That didn't help. Yeah. But when he scores, you celebrate because he's your champion, he's you're connected to him. And it's this priestly thing because everything that the Old Testament priest did, he had the people on his chest. Yes. You know, and I and I guess you know, footballers have the badge, don't they? Yeah. You know, and sometimes they sort of tap the badge when they score to say it's it's for you, and you know, yeah. It's usually for the millions of pounds. But actually, you know, in the mythology, it's for the pitch, yeah. On the pitch and within within this story storied world. Yeah. But literally the badge for Aaron when he did all that he did was the the twelve tribes of Israel. Not three lines, but twelve. Twelve gems on your breast piece.
SPEAKER_05But and again, it's because so when you say, Oh, we're gonna do something about football and something about the gospel, people go, oh, substitute, right? That's your initial thought is okay, Jesus comes onto the pitch, we leave the pitch, he dies in our place, Passover lamb, uh, the lamb dies instead of the firstborn. And clearly the Bible's got that all the way through it. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You've got the idea of the um of the scapegoat and the day of atonement, and the idea that there is a sacrifice which stands in instead of the people. Right. But what we have in priesthood is union with Christ. Representation and union in the world. Which we don't tend to focus on as much in our circles.
SPEAKER_06Yes. Very often when people kind of talk about I died with Christ, I've heard a lot of preachers translate that as um you know, Paul Paul says almost a dozen times, I think, that we died in Christ or with Christ. Um I've heard a lot of preachers sort of say, Oh, well, it's it's as though Jesus was taking on all the sins that that were mine, and it's it's as though I've passed through crucifixion to resurrection because Christ has done that for me. And I think the Bible is is much more concrete about it. I think he ha he actually represents us, he actually takes us to himself and then kind of passes through that wrath and judgment at our head and bears the brunt of it, um, but he carries us through it in in in the same way that you know the the the champion in the in the in the football team, he scores the goal. You've not expended a calorie of effort, but yeah, but we won. Yeah, we yeah, we won. Yeah, you know. Yeah, which you know Mitchell and Webb have done, you know, fantastic sketches about you know how ridiculous it is to say we won. But you can ridicule the idea all you like, it's ineradicable. Yeah, yeah. You just like when your team wins, we won. And we beat you. Yeah. I was like, well, none of neither of us were on the pitch, but we beat you. Because representation is just like woven into things, and I think I think sport really kind of brings it out. And I think I think Jordan Peterson's done a great little Yes, we should watch that as well.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. Speech about this. And this is this was he's talking about all the random and crazy things that Jordan Peterson sort of pulls into his lectures, and then has this little moment which is actually one of the funniest it's kind of stand-up comedy, really, when he starts to get into it. But it's about uh I think it's called sport and the aim of life, having an aim. Uh and he starts off talking about uh archery and bullseye. Yeah. So we'll let uh Canadian comedian uh Jordan Peterson take over from here.
SPEAKER_00You've seen bullseyes, classical arrow, you know, uh archery bullseyes. I think it they're red in the middle, usually, right? And then there's a variety of colored circles around them. Maybe the whole bullseye is this big, and you're supposed to hit the bullseye, but the closer you get to the center, the better. But at least you could hit part of it, that would be good, you know. And you're supposed to stand back and pull your arrow back and aim, and so and that's that's that's that's an acting out of something. It's an acting out of the necessity of having an aim and taking your best shot, right? That's what makes it a sport, you know. And if you think about that, most of our sports are like that, right? Soccer's like that, rugby's like that, basketball's like that, hockey's like that. Almost all team sports involve some sort of projectile going to some sort of target. And usually people organize themselves into hierarchies, two of them, because there's two teams, and then they compete and cooperate to get the projectile in the target. And for some reason, we think that's really cool. Right? But look, it's worth thinking through deeply. It's like you'll spend a lot of money on that opportunity to go in Toronto. You can't buy NHL tickets for the Maple Leafs, they're unbelievably expensive, and they've been sold out forever, even though the damn team hasn't won a championship since like 1968. Doesn't matter. People will spend a fortune to go sit in an arena, like a long way away from the action. And there's these guys out there, and they're tough and they're fast, and they're fighting with this little black frozen disc and they're trying to get it in a net while someone is trying to stop. It's completely bloody absurd. And yet people are thrilled about it. They're thrilled, and they'll pay for it, right? They don't have to be dragged there kicking and screaming, like they line up as oh god, a hockey game. Thank God, and they'll wear the jerseys. It's like, and then you know, some some character who's put in his 10,000 numbers, does his beautiful move and puts in a goal in some manner that's like technically impossible, and everybody leaps to their feet and they just have a fit of joy. And you think, what in the world is going on with that? It's like you're happier when that happens than you were when you got married. It's like you don't see, well, you don't see people doing that when they're, and then it's not everybody when you get married and everybody stands up and has a little like like a 10-minute fit and hugs strangers and then goes out and drinks a dozen beer and has a riot and tears down stores. It's like, no, no, but uh, but a good goal, that'll do it. I think I think Guatemala and Ecuador went to war over a soccer game, literally. So, so, and let's not assume we're so stupid, you know, even though we are. Um, let's not assume it. There's something behind this. It's like we really like to see people take careful aim and hit the target. And we really like to see them cooperate and compete in an expert manner to do that. And we really like to see them do that in a way that stretches their ability beyond what we would normally be able to see, right? Because it's nice to go to a competent display of athletics, but now and then you go, you see these like soccer goals on YouTube where these crazy characters, you know, they flip around in the air and they're like eight feet off the ground, completely backwards, and they kick the ball four feet to the side of the goalie. It's just, it's just impossible. Like they're a hundred yards away and it's perfect, and you think, right on, that's what a human being is like. And you're not really like that because you couldn't do it, but you are human, and conceivably you could do something like that, and so it's a nice display of that potential for us to hit the damn target, right? So then the question is, well, what's the target? And that's the question, because that's the same question as what's the meaning?
SPEAKER_06I think that's a good example of some of the best and some of the worst of Jordan Peterson in some ways. In terms of um he's absolutely nailed what we are connected to and resonating with when we're watching the footballer score the goal. But then is the is the moral to the story be that guy? Or is the is the moral to the story do your best to try to be that guy? Um I think the moral to the story, you know, scripturally, is well David did it for you. Yeah. Um and yes, there's there's a degree to which now we go over the top and plunder the Philistines. Great. Um But Jordan Peterson kind of jumps over that bit, and then he he basically tries to be Jesus. Yeah. He tries to be the hero himself. Yeah. And there's a vital stage before you before you attempt that, recognize that he did it on your behalf.
SPEAKER_03Well, there we go. Thank you so much for listening. It's me again. You might be thinking that's a bit of an abrupt end to the conversation, and you're absolutely right. Uh the recording cut out for some reason. Um, but thankfully the bulk of uh the conversation was captured. They chatted a bit more about Jordan Peterson and Jack Grealish and Jesus as our great high priest. We'll definitely be returning to those areas soon, so do stay tuned on the Speak Life podcast and do check out uh the Christmas video, Christmas Coming Home, a Three Lions Nativity Parody. We've got some exciting developments coming up, uh making some additions to our Discord server to make that an even better environment for Speak Life supporters. I will provide all the details for that in the coming episodes. Well, thanks so much for listening. God bless, and goodbye.