"Olympic Training"
A sermon by The Rev. Keenan Kelsey
Noe Valley Ministry, Presbyterian Church (USA)
February 19, 2006
- 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
- 24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. 25 Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. 26 So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; 27 but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.
THE APOSTLE PAUL uses a lot of athletic imagery to talk about the Christian life, including the passage Willa read. "All the runners run." he says. "We do not run aimlessly." He uses similar language in his letter to the Galatians, and in Hebrews, and in his writing to Timothy.
Despite the fact that this reading seems quite timely as we marvel at the Winter Olympics, Paul's sports talk is actually quite surprising. It is true that in first century CE, spectator sports were an important part in the life of every Graeco-Roman city. But to Jews, to Jesus believers, such games were anathema because they were frequently associated with the worship of pagan deities, especially emperor worship. Athletes, would often compete naked. Gambling on the outcome of the contests would have been as addictive then as now. A great deal of brutality and bloodshed also occurred during these games.
Corinth was among the cities with all the necessary facilities for every kind of sport. There they held the Isthmian Games, second only to the Olympic Games. Competitions included foot races, chariot races, horse races, boxing, wrestling, discus and javelin. Winners were held in high esteem. The most popular had bronze statues made of their likeness. Additionally, sport events must have been as troublesome then as now - You know, in the same way Sunday afternoon football becomes the liturgical worship of North American culture - or morning soccer games keep players, young and old, away from church.
But Paul is a guy - right? Most guys are sports fans. Paul was no different. So he uses images from sporting events to help him make his point. He uses sports analogies to encourage the Corinthian Christians to have the same kind of discipline, determination, and endurance that athletes have, to confront and even embrace the emotional and spiritual demands of training to follow Christ, as well as the physical.
Athletes certainly offer excellent models of the patient, determined, rigorous struggle to achieve. The Olympic athletes we've been watching offer us ample evidence of this. So many of the stories tell of the struggle. Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko said, "If you want to believe in something, you must also believe in the struggle it took to get there... When I was 4," he said. "I saw a competition and said to my mum, I have to be there." Never mind that he and his brother spent much of their childhood collecting bottles to sell so the family could eat, or that at age 11, the state took him 1000 miles away from that family to train him to skate. He earned Olympic gold this week.
Downhill ski champion Janica Kostelic is reluctant to talk about herself, but her proud brother, also a skier, describes their family poverty in Croatia; the forceful, driven passion of their father; and Janica's seven knee surgeries that she had to work through over the years to achieve her gold. Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler won big this week; but both were fresh from sickbeds but these American snowboarders took gold and silver. They said their illness spurred them to greater effort. On Monday Chinese pair skater Zhang San had a knee-first crash on the concrete-hard ice. Through tears and pain, they won a silver medal minutes later. The stories go on!
Instead of skating and skiing, Paul used metaphors from running and boxing. No aimless jogging or shadow boxing for him. When he says, "I punish my body and enslave it" he referred to the hard discipline of training rather than a masochistic routine. He urged the Corinthians, as he urges us, to a measured pace, one with resolution. or better translated "patience or endurance." It is not a patience that can sit down, bow its head, let things descend on it, and passively endure until the storm subsides. This patience does not follow the easy path, nor does it ever give up.
All this training talk is useful to us as we approach Lent, just 10 days away. It is not a subtle tie-in! Part of hearing Paul's words is to encourage each of you in a Lenten discipline, a practice, a new behavior, something to either give up or take on, participation in the Lenten devotionals we will offer. For 7 short weeks, only 7 weeks, we have a dedicated opportunity to shape our spiritual life, to grow, see a new thing. Invitations to both fasting and feasting will be a part of our devotional guide. And always, we will be keeping the cross in sight. As various women from the Bible speak to us each week, more crosses will appear on our walls, and more prayers will appear on the Lenten prayer cross. It can be an awesome time.
But even more important than this spiritual "spring training," Paul is calling us to understand the prize we are working toward. It is not necessarily the Olympic gold that he had in mind. Paul says these athletes compete to receive "a perishable wreath." We think of the beautifully woven laurel wreathes given to early Greek winners, but Paul's metaphor becomes especially vivid when I tell you that at the Isthmian Games in Corinth winner wreaths were made out of withered celery. That was first prize at the Isthmian Games! I hate to think what the second- and third-place awards were like!
No, Paul had in mind the prize of a faithful Christian life, a process of being shaped and formed more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ. And in the end, he talked about the final imperishable goal of eternal life with Christ, in the arms of God. As E. Stanley Jones put it, "The whole universe is a YES on the side of Christ. Why? Because truth is stronger than falsehood, hope is stronger than fear, life is stronger than death, and Christ embodies them all." Paul calls us to a life that transcends individual achievement, a life informed by God's great love, that holds purpose and strives for justice. He calls us toward a transformational life lived for and in the glory of God.
I think Paul had in mind a life demonstrated by the noble spirit and depth of character of Skater Michelle Qwan. Her grace and dignity shown through as she withdrew due to injury. " The team, the effort," she said, "is greater than my win. It is about the US bringing the vest team to the Olympics, and I wouldn't want to be in the way of that." She is a rare leader who drapes chiffon over a heart of steel, I think Paul would point to Speed skater Joey Cheek who did win the gold, the first prize, but then used his greatest achievement to speak of things greater than personal accomplishment, He announced, at the time of his win, that all his gold medal winnings will go to a charity for displaced and war-torn Sudanese children.
I think Paul would even think that American snow boarder Lindsey Jacobellis exemplifies his idea of a life lived in a discipleship of love. Oh I know, we hear much of her showboating on her way to what should have been an easy Gold Medal. Far ahead of her competitor, she grabbed her board during that first jump and fell. She ended up drawling to the finish line in second place. Most sports writers applauded her talent and lamented her ego. They tore her up! But when interviewed, 16-year-old Lindsay said, "Look, I grabbed the board to stabilize myself. But also, I was having fun. Snowboarding is fun, and I was feeling wonderful and I wanted to share my joy with everyone watching. What is wrong with that? I had fun and I missed up. Oh well..." Paul would say that sharing joy is a greater goal than winning gold.
What is your life goal? What are you willing to work at to become the Christian disciple that our God invites us to be? What does it mean to you to win your race, to be the kind of person you most want to be? Do you have a vision of the kind of person you would like to be? I do. Earlier this year I was visiting Tom Sears in his nursing home, and one of the elderly ladies admired my scarf. "Can I have it?" she asked. I almost took it off and gave it to her - but in the moment, I remembered buying it at the street market in Paris, and I couldn't do it. I have always regretted that. My goal as a Christian is, at least in part, to be a person who freely offers a pretty scarf to an old woman who has little joy in her life.
I have a little test to help you... This test was given to 20 job applicants to solve. How would you solve it?
You're driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus.
1. An old woman who looks as if she is about to die.
2. Your best friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect man/woman you have been dreaming about all your life.
There can only be one passenger in your car, and you can't return to the bus stop once you have left it, and this assumes you are not now married. Which one would you choose to offer a ride? Think before we go on.
You could pick up the old woman, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take your best friend because s/he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him/her back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect man/woman again. Only one passenger; you can't return; you're not married. Do you pick up the old woman, your best friend, your perfect man/woman. What's your choice?
The candidate who was hired had no trouble coming up with the answer: "I would give the car keys to my old friend to take the old woman to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the person of my dreams."
Spiritual discipline, spiritual training, is a win/win situation. It is a way to think differently, then to act differently. You are being invited to imagine the best self you strive to be. Then you are being offered seven weeks of training, seven weeks of deliberate exercise to hone, deepen, enrich your experience of God and self. Are you ready to sign up?