Run the race
I don’t know if any of you have ever run a marathon ?? In case you’re wondering I haven’t and what’s more I don’t particularly want to ! However last week I did sponsor someone who was running the Snowdon Marathon – it was her third marathon of the year and she’s already signed up to do the next London marathon. I sponsored her for a number of reasons – firstly I think she’s rather brave, if not a little stupid, for doing it; secondly she’s running for a really good cause and thirdly because sponsoring her is far easier than actually doing a marathon myself !!
We all have a choice whether or not we run in a marathon, and most of us choose not to. However in many ways the whole of our lives can be seen as a marathon – and a marathon in which we are participants rather than spectators.
We don’t actually have a choice over whether to take part in life’s marathon. For all of the good things we hopefully enjoy in our lives, for the wonderful blessings we regularly receive, there will inevitably be times when we struggle, when it’s not easy… And at those times we are faced with the choice of giving up or of ploughing on in the hope of things improving – fortunately that’s the choice most of us take most of the time, and we often find that when we do that, there are plenty of blessings to follow.
And so we have the marathon race – a race where most of us choose not to actively take part; there’s the marathon race of life which we have no choice other than to take part in, but this evening I want to think about a third marathon, and that is the marathon of faith.
In the letter to the Hebrews (12:1-2) the writer uses the analogy of running a race and the tone is one of encouragement – it’s going to be a difficult race at times and perseverance will be needed to complete it, but the aim of any race is to reach a goal, and that aim is the same where our faith is concerned.
And the original readers of the letter to the Hebrews would have known all about trials and endurance through all kinds of difficulties. These were the early converts – a group of Jewish Christians. They had made the decision to follow Jesus, but they were confused – they were so used to their Jewish practices of worship and traditions, but these had now changed… Some felt that the Jewish practices should still be observed, others felt they should be cast aside, and so they knew about internal struggles in their group.
But wider still, they also knew well about a struggle for freedom and even life. This was a brutal society where murder and executions were common place, and Christians were a pretty good target… To practice their faith, these early Christians knew all about sacrifice and about devotion and commitment. They knew all about the race of life – they had a choice and they chose to stay in it.
And that choice is something that we still have with regard to the marathon race of faith – none of us are obliged to believe, none to follow Jesus, none to come to Church, to read the Bible, to pray, to give in terms of time or money – none of us are obliged to do anything with faith that we don’t want to do.
There’ve been times in the past when faith has been almost a compulsory thing – something that had to be done, but that’s not true today and that’s a good thing, because faith is not something to force on people, but something to share with people that can offer them a complete transformation of life.
But by coming here this evening we are expressing something more – that we want to be part of the race of faith; that we are offering some commitment – we know of a goal – the goal of ultimate salvation, of sharing in Christ’s victory…
But even now we have choices, because we can be like the person who sponsors the marathon runner but doesn’t really want to get too involved with the practical side of the event. And that is true for many people who choose a passive faith, a faith that suggests that our beliefs are private, we shouldn’t inflict them on others. A faith that suggests that coming to Church is good but we don’t really want to look for the bigger challenges which we will face through prayer and Bible study and interaction with fellow believers or non believers.
Many people suggest today that we live in a bit of a nanny state – the government or their agencies seem to be offering guidelines and rules about so many things, but the Church has also, over the years, been guilty of offering a bit of a nanny state.
The Prayer Book and the written liturgies that we use are incredibly useful tools of worship. I like organised worship, I like the ritual of liturgy, but we must also be aware that there can be a huge danger in just passively sharing the words of liturgy without really immersing ourselves in the meaning.
The effect that written liturgies had for many people was to remove the personal element of worship and prayer, and make them corporate activities, but we can and we must never remove the personal aspects of our faith.
Jesus never called people to a private faith. He never called people to a faith that shouldn’t challenge or even offend. He called people to a dangerous faith, a faith that would be costly and sometimes difficult. Just as he called the early Christians to take risks for their faith, he calls us to do the same today.
Recently we thought about the commands of Jesus, and he didn’t really leave very many – love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and love your neighbour as yourself, and then go out into the world making disciples of all nations, baptising them and reminding them that God is with them always…
When we share our faith, we are not inflicting something painful or harmful on people – we are sharing good news for them and for everyone, and we can do it with confidence.
It’s not easy – and if we choose to participate in the marathon race of faith life won’t always be easy. Speaking up for Jesus isn’t always easy, sharing his love with some people isn’t always easy, seeking to build his Church and grow isn’t always easy, changing our thoughts as we listen to others isn’t always easy… Some will scoff at us, some will reject us, some will challenge us, some will cause us pain as we have to change to accommodate new thoughts and new ideas… but in everything we are called to persevere, to pursue our goal.
And the great thing about that goal is that it is in sight – we don’t know the day or the time but we know that the promises of Jesus have already been fulfilled. We know that his victory over death is one which we can all share in, and we know that through whatever dangers and difficulties we may face in our lives, we can be assured that God is with us, and that he will never abandon us. AMEN.
We all have a choice whether or not we run in a marathon, and most of us choose not to. However in many ways the whole of our lives can be seen as a marathon – and a marathon in which we are participants rather than spectators.
We don’t actually have a choice over whether to take part in life’s marathon. For all of the good things we hopefully enjoy in our lives, for the wonderful blessings we regularly receive, there will inevitably be times when we struggle, when it’s not easy… And at those times we are faced with the choice of giving up or of ploughing on in the hope of things improving – fortunately that’s the choice most of us take most of the time, and we often find that when we do that, there are plenty of blessings to follow.
And so we have the marathon race – a race where most of us choose not to actively take part; there’s the marathon race of life which we have no choice other than to take part in, but this evening I want to think about a third marathon, and that is the marathon of faith.
In the letter to the Hebrews (12:1-2) the writer uses the analogy of running a race and the tone is one of encouragement – it’s going to be a difficult race at times and perseverance will be needed to complete it, but the aim of any race is to reach a goal, and that aim is the same where our faith is concerned.
And the original readers of the letter to the Hebrews would have known all about trials and endurance through all kinds of difficulties. These were the early converts – a group of Jewish Christians. They had made the decision to follow Jesus, but they were confused – they were so used to their Jewish practices of worship and traditions, but these had now changed… Some felt that the Jewish practices should still be observed, others felt they should be cast aside, and so they knew about internal struggles in their group.
But wider still, they also knew well about a struggle for freedom and even life. This was a brutal society where murder and executions were common place, and Christians were a pretty good target… To practice their faith, these early Christians knew all about sacrifice and about devotion and commitment. They knew all about the race of life – they had a choice and they chose to stay in it.
And that choice is something that we still have with regard to the marathon race of faith – none of us are obliged to believe, none to follow Jesus, none to come to Church, to read the Bible, to pray, to give in terms of time or money – none of us are obliged to do anything with faith that we don’t want to do.
There’ve been times in the past when faith has been almost a compulsory thing – something that had to be done, but that’s not true today and that’s a good thing, because faith is not something to force on people, but something to share with people that can offer them a complete transformation of life.
But by coming here this evening we are expressing something more – that we want to be part of the race of faith; that we are offering some commitment – we know of a goal – the goal of ultimate salvation, of sharing in Christ’s victory…
But even now we have choices, because we can be like the person who sponsors the marathon runner but doesn’t really want to get too involved with the practical side of the event. And that is true for many people who choose a passive faith, a faith that suggests that our beliefs are private, we shouldn’t inflict them on others. A faith that suggests that coming to Church is good but we don’t really want to look for the bigger challenges which we will face through prayer and Bible study and interaction with fellow believers or non believers.
Many people suggest today that we live in a bit of a nanny state – the government or their agencies seem to be offering guidelines and rules about so many things, but the Church has also, over the years, been guilty of offering a bit of a nanny state.
The Prayer Book and the written liturgies that we use are incredibly useful tools of worship. I like organised worship, I like the ritual of liturgy, but we must also be aware that there can be a huge danger in just passively sharing the words of liturgy without really immersing ourselves in the meaning.
The effect that written liturgies had for many people was to remove the personal element of worship and prayer, and make them corporate activities, but we can and we must never remove the personal aspects of our faith.
Jesus never called people to a private faith. He never called people to a faith that shouldn’t challenge or even offend. He called people to a dangerous faith, a faith that would be costly and sometimes difficult. Just as he called the early Christians to take risks for their faith, he calls us to do the same today.
Recently we thought about the commands of Jesus, and he didn’t really leave very many – love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and love your neighbour as yourself, and then go out into the world making disciples of all nations, baptising them and reminding them that God is with them always…
When we share our faith, we are not inflicting something painful or harmful on people – we are sharing good news for them and for everyone, and we can do it with confidence.
It’s not easy – and if we choose to participate in the marathon race of faith life won’t always be easy. Speaking up for Jesus isn’t always easy, sharing his love with some people isn’t always easy, seeking to build his Church and grow isn’t always easy, changing our thoughts as we listen to others isn’t always easy… Some will scoff at us, some will reject us, some will challenge us, some will cause us pain as we have to change to accommodate new thoughts and new ideas… but in everything we are called to persevere, to pursue our goal.
And the great thing about that goal is that it is in sight – we don’t know the day or the time but we know that the promises of Jesus have already been fulfilled. We know that his victory over death is one which we can all share in, and we know that through whatever dangers and difficulties we may face in our lives, we can be assured that God is with us, and that he will never abandon us. AMEN.
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