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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Rev Carolyn Skinner.

Good morning.

Whilst people were eating strawberries and sipping Pimms at arguably the greatest Grand Slam, the Wimbledon Championships, a team of us from Third Space Ministries were welcoming the tennis fans in the overnight queue. Whilst there I was pondering the strapline for Wimbledon this year which was ‘the stage awaits’. A nod perhaps to Shakespeare’s famous line of ‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players.’

The sporting stage is one which demands extreme discipline, where you are judged on your performance in minute detail. Whether we are sports players or not, there is a temptation to live life waiting to receive applause, and sometimes to transfer that sense of performance into our spiritual life, assuming that we have to perform for God and that he is judging our every move.

In Andre Agassi’s autobiography he talks about the pressure his father put on him to perform, to be perfect. He is blown away when one day a pastor says to him ‘you do know that God isn’t anything like your father? You know that don’t you?’ Agassi can’t quite take it in and asks for the words to be repeated.

For those of us who offer chaplaincy at sporting events, it’s about providing a performance free zone where someone can come and simply be. But perhaps we all need to hear again the freedom that there is to come to God simply as we are, whether we are involved in sport or not.

Loving Father God, thank you that we can come to you simply as we are. Release us from striving today, from the need to perform and earn applause. Help us to be honest with ourselves, and with you.

Amen.