BBC Radio 4 2016-03-14

BBC Radio 4 2016-03-14

Good morning. The evening of Sport Relief on Friday will celebrate all of the walking, running, swimming and cycling - with the help of Frank Spencer, Smithy and Peter Crouch joining David Walliams as a 'lady'. Two years ago it raised over fifty one million pounds on the night and the generosity of the British public, through years of economic downturn, has raised a staggering total of two hundred and sixty two million pounds.

The involvement of sports stars in encouraging giving is an important part of the approach, but I have to admit that there is one element which just raises a question in my mind. While many sports men and women are not earning high amounts and even struggle to get sponsorship, premiership footballers are in a different league. The Deloitte annual review of football finances shows that in the 2013/14 season, wages for Premiership clubs totalled 1.9 billion pounds. Next season's television deal will bring a record £5billion into the clubs, with the recent fear of supporters that it will go to the players rather than reduce ticket prices.

Now if every premiership player donated just two weeks wages it would by itself easily exceed the amount raised last time by Sport Relief. That would still leave the average footballer with a couple of million pounds to manage the other 50 weeks of the year!

Of course many do involve themselves in a range of charitable work and to be honest I find it far too easy to point the finger at other people when it comes to generosity - sometimes to avoid my own responsibility. In the context of offerings given in the Temple, Jesus once commended to his disciples the real sacrifice of a couple of coins from a poor widow compared to the large amounts of the rich. As a Christian I find myself continually challenged by this, not to judge other people but to think about my own giving. Archbishop Desmond Tutu suggests that 'generosity comes from seeing that everything we have and everything we accomplish comes from God's grace and God's love for us.' He goes on to point out that in the African understanding of ubuntu, 'our generosity also comes from realizing that we could not accomplish anything, without the support, love, and generosity of others.'

Realising that all I have is a gift from God or a gift from others combats my innate selfishness and just might sustain this unfit middle aged academic during the six miles for Sport Relief along Hartlepool seafront on Saturday morning.