July 7, 2024 Traditional | On Track: Perseverance

So I need to start today with a

a bit of a confession. I know that

many of you can relate to this,

I care way too much about sports.

For those of us who love sports

especially our locals,

professional sports teams, the past 9 months, have

been full of the the joy and the

agony

of what it means to be a fan.

It began last fall, of course, when our

beloved, Texas rangers won their first title. Many

of us who always love the rangers have

been waiting for this our entire lives. What

a magical

magical run they had last October. The absolute

mountain top experience for a fan.

And then

These guys

crushed all of our sports streams with yet

another embarrassing flame out in the playoffs. I'm

still too mad honestly to even say their

names,

I keep threatening not to watch a minute

of their games in the coming season,

but honestly who am I kidding. Since I'm

a methodist all about grace. I'm sure Watch

some, but it will be gru, and it

will probably be gru.

And then the stars

crushed it in the regular season finishing as

the number 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Honestly, I don't really understand hockey

strategy. If I'm really honest Don't really understand

hockey rules.

But playoff hockey is really exciting to watch,

and they were so good until they fell

apart in the Western conference finals.

And there was a a time there when

it was alternating playoff games every other night,

with the other beloved team in our area,

the m who had an incredible playoff run.

A mid season trade gave them a collection

of guys who had a real shot. Of

winning at all. They came up just short

in the Nba finals.

But

for a magical window of time, there was

a very real possibility

that both the stars and the m, were

gonna

follow the rangers lead and win it all.

So if you're doing the math, that's 3

of our 4 local professional sports teams who

were fan fantastic in their most recent season,

football notwithstanding. It was a little glimpse of

of sports heaven. Over the past 9 months.

And my 2 boys and I watched so

much of it. I don't even know how

many hours we just... We spent in front

of the Tv

Watching sports totally dialed in, fully committed. It

was thrilling. It was heartbreaking

in the case of 1 of the 4

teams, it was in infuriating,

all in all, it was just it was

just great fun. And so today, I am

starting with a bit of a confession. Maybe

you can relate

I care way too much about sports.

And I don't plan on ever changing that.

Because as it turns out, as we're going

to find out in July,

sports metaphors are a very biblical

concept. They're. They're the subject for our new

sermon series.

Now, I should tell you, we we had

this series planned last summer. We obviously had

in mind,

the Olympics, which kick off in just few

weeks

all of our

recent local sports awesome ness has just kind

of added to the whole vibe throughout July,

we're gonna be reading scriptures that use

sports imagery to help us, make sense of

the life of faith because sports

have been part of the human experience since

long before the first scriptures were written. And

when you look at the history of this,

it's

kinda crazy. And

sprint and wrestling,

for example,

appear in cave paintings from as far back

is 15000

years ago.

Rock paintings in Egypt show swimming and archer

from as far back as the year 10000

Bc.

Sports like,

weight lifting and

long jump show up around the year 2000

Bc. The the ancient Greeks were famous for

sports of various kinds, of course, including the

ancient history of the Olympics, which

influenced and inspired the modern Olympics.

When sports imagery shows up in the old

and new testament,

our biblical authors are,

drawing

on

pop culture sources that were very well known

and that connected easily

readily and clearly with their readers.

So as the entire world prepares to turn

it attention to Paris beginning July 20 sixth.

We're gonna spend

a few weeks with the the ancient

and always relevant

images that derive from athletics.

Outburst first is a is a passage from

the letter to the Hebrews.

Not interestingly,

we don't know who wrote this letter. We

had no idea who wrote this letter. Nor

do we know exactly to whom it was

written.

Like, to what

community it was written. We don't even know

when it was written exactly.

We do know that it was definitely not

written by Paul. Wants to ask somebody else

I'll say Paul's letter to the Hebrews. It's

not Paul's letter to the Hebrews.

We know that it was written sometime after

the year 60 based on the internal references,

but definitely before the year 95

Ad when it was quoted by I'm biblical

authors.

And while it's called a letter,

it's really an extended sermon drawing upon and

in many patients

places just directly quoting from the Greek translation

of the old testament, which is called the

Sip.

It's written in some of the most sophisticated

greek in the new testament,

and it's this

beautiful and powerful

sermon

with the goal of calling followers of Jesus

to a to a faithful and hopeful and

loving

life of disciples shit.

And here in the twelfth chapter,

it it opens

with the language of sports.

So we're gonna read Hebrews, chapter 12 versus

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

1 to 2, listen friends for the word

of God as it is proclaimed by this

author.

In a sports metaphor.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great

a cloud of witnesses,

let us also lay aside every weight and

the sin that cling so closely

and let us run with perseverance,

the race that is set before us.

Looking to Jesus,

the pioneer and perfect of our faith,

who for the sake of the joy that

was set before him

endured the cross.

Disregard its shame

and has taken his seat at the right

hand of the throne of god.

This is the word of God for the

people of God.

Thanks, Peter God.

So

I've been a fan of of lots of

different sports since I was very young, but

my own my own personal sport growing up

was running. I started running competitively in middle

school, just outdoor track at first, but I

kinda of got hooked

when I got the high school, I added

cross country and indoor track. And because I

grew up in these small towns in Maryland

and attended small

high schools. I had the chance to run

varsity

every season.

And we were pretty competitive.

In fact, the last race that I ran

in high school was the state meat for

outdoor track, where I was part of the

state champion 4 by 800

Relay. It was It was really pretty awesome

Was a great way to end my my

running career per s.

And over the years, I came to really

just truly love it. It became an integral

part of my identity. Yeah. 1 that I've

continued all these years.

It'll always be just part of my soul.

And there was an influential author during those

growing up years who helped shape my thinking

about running.

George She was a medical doctor,

in this picture, he's the the older fella

in the front of the the front of

the pack there.

He was a cardiologist

but he was much more than that. He

had been a track star in college, and

he came back to the sport in his

middle age. And when he did,

He kind of became a philosopher on the

subject of of running and fitness. He became

an accomplished author

He wrote a column in his local newspaper

for 25 years. He served as the medical

editor for Runner World Magazine.

Which is a publication that I read

religiously over the years.

He also wrote 8 books about the discipline

of running a couple of which are on

my my books shelf.

As someone who's running career was only

seriously competitive for a few glorious years back

when I was a teenager,

Something that she wrote,

is both

insightful and true to me. He said, it's

very hard in the beginning to understand that

the whole idea is not to beat other

runners.

Eventually, you learn. He says, that the competition

is against the little voice in your head

that wants you to quit.

Everyone who's ever spent any time running,

whether for fitness or competition knows this

to be true.

Like like so many other types of sports

and athletic endeavors, maybe every type of sport

and athletic endeavor, the mental aspect is very

much at center of the struggle,

and it's always been this way.

When the author of,

Hebrews is writing in these first couple of

verses,

of, the twelfth chapter,

he's he's talking about a running

mindset. So when we read, since we are

surrounded by so great out of witnesses. He

is actually specifically talking there about the metaphor

of a stadium.

And he's talking about a stadium that is

filled with

those who have gone before us in the

faith.

They are they are watching us as we

run

our own race.

And then when we read let us run

the race that is set before us, he's

describing our spiritual journeys as a race on

the track. Like, that's the metaphor that he's

using,

being cheered on by the saints in glory,

which is both inspiring for sure for sure,

but also a little bit intimidating,

not however, as intimidating as the last part

of the metaphor,

we we are to run, quote, looking to

Jesus, the pioneer and perfect of our faith.

He is our model. He is our guide.

He is the 1 whose holy spirit when

it will enable us to do what we

would

otherwise be unable to do on our own.

Which is to live the faithful life with

patient endurance,

steadfast,

perseverance.

Hebrews is saying that that having

faith is like

running.

In front of a huge a huge crowd

of God's faithful following the example of Jesus

himself, as George, she told us it is

very hard in the beginning

to understand that the whole idea is not

to beat the other runners. So that's not

the point. Eventually, you learn that competition is

against the little voice.

Inside you

that wants you to quit.

When the faithful life

gets challenging,

and god knows it does.

When life throws at us,

distractions and grief and

challenges,

which of course, it does when our spiritual

journeys get cluttered with obstacles

and distracted by rabbit trails and delayed

by d tours, and it does

and unknowingly,

let us run with perseverance.

The race that is set before us.

Looking

to Jesus who was and is and always

will be

the pioneer

and per

of our faith.

He won't let us down.

As the lifelong sports fan, I've always loved

the Olympics between the 2 types of Olympics,

I've I've always preferred the summer Olympics and

as and almost lifelong long runner, the track

and field events are my my favorite events

at the summer Olympics.

Track field is actually the top sport in

the Olympics, both

in terms of the number of competitors and

the number of events. And these 20 24

Paris Olympics are gonna make history

by having an equal number of medals for

both men and women in track and field

for first time. Same number of events, although

the details of those events are a little

bit different,

but the same same metals from men and

women. And they're... So there are 17 separate

running events for men and women. The the

bulk of them held in a stadium that

seats 77083

screaming fans,

a great cloud of witnesses

cheering on some of the finest athletes

in the world.

For me, these running events will be a

wonderful

net of

for the faithful life.

Well, while there will be 3 medal in

each event,

almost all of whom will enjoy just a

few fleeting moments on the metal stands.

At the end of their

competitions.

The vast,

vast majority of the more than 10000

athletes from more than 200

countries will

will return home with only the experience

and the memories

of having competed.

Which as every runner knows,

is enough

30 years ago, a running buddy of mine

gave me 1 of George She books. It

was right around the time that he died,

George She died.

And in it, he compares

running to an intentional connection with God. In

my own personal experience that's always what I

what I've found running to be.

And here's what she said.

Running is

a retreat a place to commune with god

and yourself a place for psychological

and spiritual renewal that is definitely the way

I've always experienced.

Running.

And then the last words of the Epi

log are an appeal,

to the pioneer and perfect

of our faith. He writes.

On the roads,

I give myself

and the world

and the creator.

A standing ovation.

Find your place to do that,

and you will find the peace that passes

all understanding.

As we kick off this new sermon series

for the month of July.

May we all find our places of of

perseverance

in our journeys of faith.

I'm amen.