Did you watch the Olympics? I was able to catch some of the events. To be honest, the (former) Coloradan in me prefers the Winter Olympics. However, what I try hard to not miss at both Olympics are the opening and closing ceremonies. Due to COVID, this year’s ceremonies were not nearly as spectacular as in past years, yet they had their ooh and aahh moments.
As I watched the Olympics I saw athletes from many nations embrace each other as they gathered at the opening and closing ceremonies. When an athletic event ended I often saw losers embrace the winners and silver, bronze and gold medalists embrace each other moments after they were giving their all to defeat those now being embraced.
I couldn’t help but wonder: do sports do a better job at coming together in unity than the church? Through their actions, might the Olympics exceed the church which proclaims there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, but all are one? It is, after all, one thing to preach and teach a concept and quite another to live it out. Remember, Martin Luther King Jr. say Sunday morning at 11am is the most segregated hour of the week. Unfortunately, this may remain true.
What do you think? Sports were not unknown in biblical times. After all the Olympics are older than the writings in scripture. Paul uses sports, running in particular, as a metaphor for the Christian life, Timothy’s author speaks of finishing the race, and the Old Testament book of Habbakuk also makes use of the image of running.
The Bible, however, is more interested in unity as a people of God. Unity, oneness, a coming together of those who follow Christ….how does the church score on these? What medal might the church be awarded?
First, medals are not awarded until the competition has ended. Creating unity, creating community and oneness are an ongoing task of the church taking place over untold numbers of generations. Second, unity does not mean sameness. For the church unity is to be found in following Christ and in a unity of purpose: bringing the Good News of this Christ to the world in word and deed. This race of serving and proclaiming is never ending. Third, I am not sure the Olympic unity impressive as it is, lasts once the athletes return home. Some feeling of unity may remain, but the embrace is no longer possible.
The Olympics, however, do have one advantage many of us do not have. For many of us our experience of other nations is through maps, photos and articles in National Geographic, or news reports. And let’s face it, neither Fox, CNN, or MSNBC usually show the best side of other nations. Doing such does not increase ratings as much as tragedy, violence, or horrific events. Olympic athletes have personal experience with other peoples and other nations that many of us have not had.
This is not to encourage us to get out and travel to other lands and people. While that would be a good thing, it is often beyond the realm of possibility for many. This is, however to remind us we can only know so much from pictures, documentaries, books, and maps. We cannot have a relationship with those things. We need to be reminded we do not usually know all we need to know about a person or nation.
The recent US census report reveals what we already know: we are becoming more diverse as a state and a nation. This behooves us to work even harder to be a sign of the unity God wants for all God’s people. Do any of us live in neighborhoods that are not diverse? Let’s get to work intentionally to reach out. Our churches need to look like the communities that surround them. We cannot allow National Geographic to be our experience of diversity.
This is also to encourage us to look for unity not in any sameness but in the humanity we share and above all, in the God who created us all, and the God whom we follow in our Christian path as we follow Christ. We need to surrender our too often feeble understandings and attempts at unity to the unity we see in Christ. Let Christ be the unity we cannot seem to be. This, you might agree, would take an Olympic effort on our part. Lace up your racing shoes!