I am usually not good at watching sports. I don’t usually like sitting on the couch watching others move while I’d much rather move myself. There are few notable exceptions though. I will always try to watch the soccer World Cup and the Olympic Games. So, as the Olympic winter games in Pyeongchang opened, there I was on the couch, sitting down. Seeing Korea come together under one flag was in inspirational moment. As a matter of fact, it is those inspirations that bring me to the couch for the world’s super sports events. When international events call, they have a tendency to transcend national and personal identity. I love the stories how athletes grow up in all corners of the world and then come together for this one event with this one shared dream. From World Cup to World Cup, from Olympic Games to Olympic Games, it takes 4 long years of preparation.
For individual athletes preparation takes a lifetime. Most of them get inspired as little children and they keep practicing until they are old and fit enough to compete at the top of their sport. Are you on top your game? That’s the question of sports. It should also be the question of your spiritual journey. At some point you may have seen or heard or experienced the spiritual equivalent of a world record. Someone told you something, you did or felt something that was just out of this world. But then what came from that moment? Did you put it to work? Did you learn to walk the talk? Did you change you heart? Did you change your ways? Did you learn to inspire others? Or are you still – figuratively speaking – sitting on the couch – while others run the race for you? The Olympic Games in Pyeongchang inspire me to no longer be an armchair Christian, but to be on fire like the Olympic Cauldron.
Both the Olympics and the Church call us to be part of something bigger than ourselves. They both call us to a lot of effort, life-long training. February 14th will be Ash Wednesday. At 6pm we will burn the palms of last year’s Palm Sunday service. And there we will begin the intense 40 day training camp of Lent. The goal is not Olympic metal but more spiritual responsibility. All that passion that I have seen or heard or experienced, how can I put that to work in my life? How can you? Lent is not just about giving something up. Lent is about training the muscles of your soul. You have 40 days to grow stronger. In what spiritual discipline do you want to get better?
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