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Viewpoint from Emma Sivyer 14/07/2023
 Emma Sivyer
Licensed Lay Minister
Martham Parish Churches
We are in the middle of Wimbledon fortnight and I love watching it every year. I went once, in 1997 when the schedule was so disrupted by the weather that they played matches on the middle Sunday which at the time was a rest day. Having seen some brilliant matches with high-ranked players having to play on outside courts to get their matches in, I finished that day sitting with the crowd on Henman Hill watching the newly-installed big screen as Tim Henman battled his way past Richard Krajicek
The atmosphere in that crowd was extraordinary. As a largely British crowd, we were willing on the home player but we were also rooting for the underdog. Wimbledon, like all tennis championships seeds its players with the number one seed being most likely to win. On paper Krajicek should have won but Henman prevailed in the end. People love to cheer when the outsider seems to be in with a chance. Millions watched on TV in 2021 when non-league Marine hosted Premier League Tottenham Hotspur in the FA cup. Except for the Spurs fans, all of us were rooting for the team whose car park was too small for the Tottenham coach and whose ground was surrounded by people’s gardens from which the lucky few (this was during COVID lockdown) got to watch the match
 But outside these moments, very often the underdog returns to relative obscurity. Daily training, juggling sport with needing to earn enough from another job, playing in front of empty stands or much smaller crowds. 2000 years ago an itinerant preacher who was an outsider became hugely famous in a corner of the Roman Empire called Judea. The crowds of ordinary people loved what he had to say even though sometimes it was challenging. It would be easy to see the story of Jesus as just another underdog who attracted attention whilst he was winning but whose support melted away once it seemed that the mighty Roman Empire had beaten him, killing him on a cross. Something changed that though. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead and inspired his followers to follow him. We can see the results: Look around you, there are churches built to worship Jesus in all of our communities and any of them would welcome you to come and visit to find out why Jesus the outsider changed the world
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