From the Superintendent Minister
Racing Ahead
The London Marathon 2012 is scheduled to be run on Sunday April 22nd this year when I shall be out preaching at one of the Circuit churches. When I return home at lunchtime I will be able to watch, on television, an oddly assorted collection of people varying from keen runners to people in fancy dress seeking to complete the 42.195 Kilometre course. (26 miles 385 yards if you prefer it in old money!)
Why on earth do they do it? I am not, and my corporeal shape is convincing evidence of this, a runner. So I have difficulty in understanding why people want to inflict so much pain on themselves simply to cover what is, historically at least, an entirely arbitrary distance.
For the very few it is about competing in and winning a race and gaining the glory that accompanies the feat. For many more it is an opportunity to raise funds for very good causes. Others do it just for fun – dressed in funny costumes almost as if to win a competition that they can appear as the most bizarre contestant in the race. I recall, in years past, a man dressed in a traditional deep sea diver’s helmet, boots and suit who took nearly 8 days to complete the course.
I believe the motivating factor in all of these is a personal challenge. The competitor wants to achieve something that they had not thought possible. Completing the course dressed as a deep sea diver or Bart Simpson is about a challenge to our own sense of self-worth. If we can achieve it we are worth something, at least to ourselves.
Part of the achievement is in the months of training beforehand when the body is trained to cope with standing on one’s feet for 4 -5 hours. I am told by one past participant that this is even harder than keeping the running going.
It reminds me of the Christian life. It is not a race or even a competition but it is about a sense of self worth in that we are loved. We are loved by a God who died on cross for us that every one of us, not just the selected few or the best Christians, might be brought into a full relationship with Him.
The training for this “race” of life is simple but does require discipline as much as training for the marathon. It involves prayer and Bible study and going to church. What? I hear you cry, “I can be a Christian without going to church”. I suspect you can, but then you miss out on a vital piece of support which every marathon runner reports as being a help – the support of the crowds encouraging them when the going gets tough, when the pain barrier suddenly appears across their path. It is the support of others cheering and encouraging which gets them through.
The writer to the Hebrews captures this:
..... since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
So bring on the Olympics!
Jerry