Lessons from Lasso — I Promised Myself I Would Never Quit

We reach the end of episode five and lesson number 40 in our Lessons from Lasso series. Coach Lasso is saying “goodbye” to Michelle, his wife, while the two are standing out in the rain. It’s a tearful moment, because Lasso is also saying goodbye in another sense — relationally and maritally. It’s at this point that Lasso is mad at himself — he once promised himself he would never quit anything in life. What do we do with the vows, the oaths that we make in life? Usually the result of some painful or hurtful moment — we swear that we won’t do that again. We won’t make that same mistake that our parents made. We won’t let anyone hurt us again. We speak words quickly and rashly — that often put us under a tremendous burden and a curse, especially when we don’t or can’t live up to it. Today, I look at what the Bible says about making an oath or a promise and how we ought to approach such things. Ted Lasso, the immensely popular streaming TV show in its second season on Apple TV+ features the antics and quirky, Coach ‘Ted Lasso.’ Lasso first appeared a number of years ago as a comedic character as NBC purchased the broadcast rights to the English Premier League. Played by Jason Sudeikis, Lasso (as a coach) brings change to the difficult football (soccer) team that he has traveled overseas to coach. In the ‘Lessons from Lasso’ series, I (Rev Brad) look at some of the different life learning points brought up in the show from a chaplain’s point of view. From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer). Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.