I write this a day after the England cricket team's victory in the second Test Match of the Ashes series against Australia. Whilst I would not normally deem it appropriate to inflict my one real sporting obsession on our unsuspecting readers, I am persuaded to do so this month because of an incident that took place on the field of play immediately after the match had ended. After three and a half days of enthralling cricket, Australia had come within three runs of an improbable victory. That they finally lost was due in no small measure to the contribution throughout the match of Andrew Flintoff, a huge and hugely competitive all-round cricketer who bowls at up to ninety miles an hour and is a prodigiously talented batsman. When Australia finally lost the match, Flintoff's first act was not to join the celebrations of his team-mates but to walk over to console Brett Lee, the final Australian batsman who had so nearly steered his team to victory. Flintoff's gesture of respect for and appreciation of a fellow player moved me as much as the England victory thrilled me.

Human relationships, however fleeting, must have a foundation of trust and mutual respect if they are to flourish. It is tempting to say (and often is said) that the loosening of community ties, our increasingly intrusive and manipulative media, and an alarming growth in the gap between the richest and poorest in our society have all contributed to a lessening of trust and respect between human beings. On the other hand, perhaps these are only modern reasons for a much more longstanding problem: ".. I have been told that there are opposing groups in your meetings;…when you meet together as a group, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat, you each go ahead with your own meal so that some are hungry while others get drunk." (1 Cor.11.18 & 20). Paul's admonition of the clearly dysfunctional Christian congregation at Corinth shows that human relationships have never been easy, even for people who are (as it were) batting on the same side. Perhaps every church and every community, like every England cricket team, should have an Andrew Flintoff….