CELEBRATING:
SERMONS
31 - Jan 2010
A sermon delivered by Rev. Gordon How
A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
Okay, sports fans, get out your stopwatches. When I
finish this sermon, there will be 12 days, 6 hours and
12 minutes before the 2010 Winter Olympics begin! There
has been so much written, argued, speculated and protested
about these games - that I am left wondering is there
anything left to be said? For five or six years now
we've been talking about, observing and experiencing
the preparations. "Own the Podium", VANOC
insiders tickets, Olympic Village housing crisis, downtown
eastside embarrassment, road closures, Supreme Court
rulings on Women Ski Jumpers and the costly, extreme
security measures. Finally, though, we are getting stories
featuring promising Canadian athletes that will be excelling
in their respective sport in just a few days time! Our
athletes will compete with others from eighty or more
countries. It promises to be an international spectacle
that will catch the fancy of everyone in the city including
thousands and thousands coming here to see the Games
unfold or report on them. Yes, there are significant
numbers of Vancouverites who have fled to California,
Mexico or Hawaii (or even India in the case of someone
we all know) to avoid the apparent chaos and commercialism.
But for those of us who will be here, let's face it,
although it will be inconvenient, it should be exciting!
Ah. The Olympics. Who can forget the astounding feats
of Michael Phelps at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Phelps
broke the record for the most gold medals at a single
Olympics. And then there's our own Cindy Klassen, Canada's
all-time most decorated Olympian who is making a "mint-appearance"
on our quarter. And Clara Hughes - what a great choice
to carry our flag!
The Olympics feature outstanding winners, and alongside
them, of course, are many, many more losers than winners.
Win or lose, they all inspire me because they all compete
to the best of their ability. What dignity, perseverance,
commitment, talent, athletic ability the Games display
and promote. Sometimes the organizers of the Olympics
are inept. In 1900 one Margaret Abbott won the women's
golf competition without realizing that she was even
in the Olympics. It wasn't her fault; those Games, held
in Paris, were so poorly organized that many competitors
didn't realize that the games they entered were the
Olympic Games.
The Olympics have had their share of gaffes, sometimes
made by athletes, sometimes by commentators. Paul Hamm,
an American artistic gymnast, who won the all-around
competition at the 2004 Olympic Games, said, "I
owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father."
On another occasion a boxing analyst admitted: "Sure
there have been injuries, and even some deaths in boxing,
but none of them really that serious." Sometimes
the athletes just aren't ready. Ali Kazemi, an Iranian
boxer, missed his bus to the Barcelona Olympics in 1992,
so he took a taxi, but when he arrived at his venue
the officials disqualified him because he had forgotten
his boxing gloves! And then there was Fred Lorz, an
American long distance runner who is best known for
cheating in the marathon at the 1904 Olympics. It turned
out that Fred rode in a car for eleven of the marathon's
twenty-six miles.
The New Testament acknowledge the Olympics, because
the Apostle Paul, more than once appeals to the example
of the Olympic runner. Paul was intrigued with this
athletic image and he uses it to liken the Christian
life to a race. Paul may have actually watched the runners,
and no doubt was a bit competitive himself; he treats
the image seriously, using it to encourage discipline
and determination in ones spiritual life. Paul's competitive
runner is not the only runner in the Scriptures. There's
a more obscure runner in the Old Testament, who has
more in common with Freddy Lorz, the car-riding marathoner,
than he does with the runner Paul refers to. The obscure
runner appears in the book of Genesis, in the story
of Lot, sandwiched there between some rather indelicate
episodes in the city of Sodom.
We find in Genesis, chapter 19, that Sodom's days are
numbered. To Israel, Sodom was synonymous with depravity.
Sodom's sinfulness was not just of a sexual nature.
For example, the prophet Ezekiel wrote: "This was
the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters
had pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, but did
not aid the poor and needy." The prophet Isaiah
considered Sodom's depravity to be the barbarity of
its administration of justice. And the prophet Jeremiah
uses Sodom as an example of adultery, lying, aiding
and abetting evil, and unwillingness to repent.
Israelite tradition knew Sodom as a proverbially wicked
city, and because of this God decided to test Sodom's
inhospitable spirit. God sent some messengers to check
things out, and they confirmed that Sodom was rotten
to the core. They urged Lot and his family to leave
the city. And this is where Lot becomes the biblical
runner that no one remembers, the less-than-Olympian
runner. Lot went to warn his family about Sodom's impending
doom, but they refused to take him seriously. And when
dawn came - and Lot still hadn't left - God's messengers
tried to make Lot hurry. "Quick!" they said.
"Take your wife and your two daughters and get
out...." But Lot hesitated, God's messengers can't
seem to hurry Lot along, and Lot can't seem to convince
his family of any urgency.
Eventually God's messengers took Lot by the hand, led
him and his family out of the city, and told them, "Run
for your lives! Don't look back and don't stop in the
valley. Run to the hills...." To which Lot replied:
"No, please don't make us do that, sir. You have
done me a great favour and saved my life. But the hills
are too far away...." Lot wasn't up to any long-distance
running. Glancing around, he saw a little town just
a short distance away, and he began to bargain with
God's messengers: "Do you see that little town?
It is near enough. Let me go over there...." Lot
preferred a less taxing run - a sprint. He'd settle
for the small town.
It's an unusual story. One of God's remarkable rescues
is underway, but God's messengers have a terrible time
trying to get Lot to agree to be rescued! Time is of
the essence, and Lot quibbles about his destination;
even steroids wouldn't have done much for Lot. God is
anxious to save Lot from destruction, and Lot wants
to be saved, but not at the cost of his in-convenience!
Lot was instructed to run with discipline and determination,
but he is a less-than-determined athlete leaving Sodom
- he's a hesitant, lingering, lazy, ambivalent and short-sighted
runner. Lot, has been lost in the obscurity of Old Testament
lore, and it's just as well, for there's nothing inspiring
about his example.
The Apostle Paul, however, uses "running"
as a much more motivational model. For example, when
Paul uses the image of a runner in his letter to the
Christians in Corinth, he says, "Surely you know
that in a race all the runners take part in it, but
only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such
a way as to win the prize. …run straight for the
finish line .. " Now, there's the Olympic spirit.
Now we're on the road to the 2010 Games. Paul was convinced
that living a faithful Christian life was challenging
like an Olympic athletic pursuit. The Christian life
requires whole-hearted dedication and determination.
The contrast between these two biblical runners is
cause to reflect on our own spiritual lives. Some of
us begin our journey of faith with enthusiasm and then
somewhere along the way - it could be a year later,
five years, ten years, twenty years - the going gets
tough, or life proves disappointing, or church is a
drag, and we fizzle and fade out. Perhaps we were still
living on the memory of our initial experience, and
we haven't really advanced much. We're like the little
boy who fell out of bed during the night, and when his
mother heard the thud and asked him what happened, he
said, "I don't know, Mom. I guess I stayed too
close to where I got in." Perhaps, like Lot, we
prefer a discipleship that isn't too strenuous. Perhaps,
like Lot, when faced with a choice between a marathon
and a sprint, we prefer the short course.
It's interesting that we demand excellence in our apparel,
our gadgetry, our cars, our computers, our cameras and
such, but in our faith journey we're content to linger
quite close to where we got in, to where we started
our journey. It reminds me of the person who asked the
professor, after a lecture on the philosophy of education,
to suggest some additional resources. "Sure,"
said the professor, "do you want something light
or heavy?" To which the fellow replied, "Oh,
I don't care; I've got the car with me!" True story!
God beckons us to a journey rich in purpose and spiritual
depth. We need to take our calling seriously, lest we
become what Shakespeare called "a snapper-up of
unconsidered trifles." (Winter's Tale, Act 4, Scene
3)
Our culture is rife with invitations to start new things.
Start a new diet. Start a new exercise program. Start
the latest nutrition program. Start French classes.
Start music lessons. Starting them is not the problem
… sustaining them is quite another matter. It's
relatively easy to start the journey of faith, it's
quite another to keep on keeping on when the going gets
tough. Many people start the Christian journey, but
there's a dreadful attrition rate. Many people are interested
in religious experience but there is very little appetite
for the challenging aspects of obedience, discipleship,
and holiness. Being religious takes work.
A sustainable faith requires some fibre in our spiritual
diet. It requires some toughness of spirit. I think
of another Olympics contender, Wilma Rudolph. Do you
know her story? A track star, she won three gold medals
in the 1960 Olympics. She overcame so much…she
was born prematurely, weighing only four-and-a-half
pounds. She caught "infantile paralysis,"
caused by the polio virus, when still a young child,
and it twisted her left leg. She had to wear a brace.
Before the age of twelve she also suffered through scarlet
fever, whooping cough, chicken pox and measles. She
had lost the use of her left leg because of the scarlet
fever, which she got at the age of four, and she had
to learn to walk again when she was seven. She underwent
many treatments to straighten her twisted leg. She persevered,
and at the age of twenty Wilma Rudolph won three gold
medals in track and field at the Olympic Games in Rome,
despite running on a sprained ankle. What amazing and
sustaining Olympic spirit.
None other than Friedrich Nietzsche bequeathed us a
phrase that captures the Olympic spirit for Christians.
He called it a "long obedience in the same direction".
In his book, Beyond Good and Evil (1907) Nietzsche talks
about how in every system of morality the "essential
thing ...is ...that there should be a long obedience
in the same direction." Results which make life
worth living ... virtue, art, music, reason, spirituality
- anything whatever that is transfiguring, refined,
or divine comes almost always "in the long run."
A long obedience in the same direction. For us it means
being faithful, and being so until the very end.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn had to endure the horrors and
deprivations of the Russian Gulag. He thought he would
die there. All he and the other prisoners did every
day was shovel, and one day, at the brink of despair,
Solzhenitsyn laid down his shovel and sat down on a
little make-shift bench with his head between his knees.
He had seen others beaten severely for such an infraction.
He felt someone approaching him, and he braced himself
for the first blow. It was another prisoner, however,
an elderly man who reached down and picked up a twig,
and used it to make the sign of the cross in the dirt
beside Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn understood and he
got up and started shoveling again. In certain circumstances,
a small gesture is enough to sustain us.
A sustainable faith is possible because of the One Who
sustains us - God, our Sustainer. So when our walk of
faith begins to feel like a marathon, and we're tempted
to sit down on the curb, and take a long break, let's
keep on keeping on! God may not take away the load we
are carrying, but God will give us strength for the
journey. God will sustain us. Amen and Amen.
So, there we are, keep counting: 12 days, 6 hours and,
oh, 14 minutes - I've done well!
+++++++++++++++++++==
Sermon Resources: Genesis 19:12-23; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27;
Hebrews 12: 1,2; Philippians 2: 14-16. Don Friesian.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Some Olympic Quotes - for your reflection (and enjoyment)
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not
winning but taking part; the essential think in life
is not conquering but fighting well." (Pierre de
Coubertin - French Educator, primarily responsible for
the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894.)
It is the inspiration of the Olympic Games that drives
people not only to compete but to improve, and to bring
lasting spiritual and moral benefits to the athlete
and inspiration to those who witness the athletic dedication.
(Herb Elliott, Australian middle-distance Runner, held
1500 metre and mile world records.)
You don't have to be at the Olympic event to feel the
heat. You can sense the "electricity" even
while watching the games on television. (Anon. 2010)
Curling is not a sport. I called my grandmother and
told her she could win a gold medal because they have
dusting in the Olympics now. (Charles Barkley, USA Basketball
player.)
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Shaughnessy Heights United Church
congregation is a Christian faith community respecting
each other in our diversity and reaching out to all
who seek God’s love.
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West 33rd Avenue,
Vancouver, BC V6M 1A7
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