Faith of a Long Distance Runner

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

May 23, 2010

Text: Hebrews 12: 1-3

Is the Christian life like a marathon or cross-country, middle distance or a sprint?

Maybe a little like each of these.

When I think of marathons, I think of Marathon, Texas, 405 miles west southwest of Austin, on U.S. Highway 385, on the way to Big Bend. I grew up thinking Midland and Odessa were remote, until I drove through Marathon! I wonder if they have marathons in Marathon?

Most marathons are now run in cities, of course. But just as traveling through west Texas requires perseverance, so the marathoner must endure, pace herself, not use up all her energy on the first 5 miles. It is a group experience, I suspect, especially if several friends are pacing themselves. One step at a time, adjusting for the hills and the straightaways.

Cross-country would be similar, I think, except that the roads are not smooth and the runner would have to take more care not to twist an ankle. Different shoes, probably, more sturdy.  Again, perseverance, endurance over the long haul are required.

Both marathoners and cross-country runners most often look like they have missed a few meals: lean and willowy, like gazelles or greyhounds.

What about sprinters? Their upper legs are usually over-sized for pushing off. Giving it one’s best quickly is the key. Light shoes.  From what I have observed, sprinters have no time to pace themselves. One can be left behind quickly and there is not enough time to catch up. Sprinters are all on their own, and dare not look side to side but straight to the finish line
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Middle distance might be the hardest because the runner would have to have speed and restraint. The runner could not afford to get too far behind the pack but also not wear out.

Hurdles always looked to me the most demanding overall. My uncle J D Moore, a Hall of Fame athlete in football, basketball, track and field, at North Texas State University in the 1920s, was a hurdler: about 6 foot 6 inches, he could almost step over the hurdles as he described it. Running and jumping seemed to me the hardest, using different muscles and racing against the clock. A combination of sprinting and cross-country talents required.

Experienced track athletes will be able to tell by my amateur descriptions that I did not run track. Well, only once, in intramural at McMurry University in 1963. It was the 440, four times around the track.

I knew nothing about pacing myself. I started out quickly and discovered myself among the front runners, to my great surprise. I had played ball with many of these guys and I knew they were faster out of the gate than I was.

After the second round, I was beginning to fade. My legs were feeling like rubber. By the end of the third round, the experienced runners began to pass me like I was standing still---which I almost was. By the end, I was among the last to finish. I decided to retire from that sport right then.

My running had been mostly in basketball, which requires some of the same talents as sprinting and hurdles, running and jumping. Conditioning involved what our coach called “economies,” which were sprints from the baseline to the free throw line and back; then to the top of the key and back, then half-court, then opposite end top of the key, free throw line and back….you get the picture. We had to touch each line with our hand. The hardest running I ever did! Feet took the most abuse; blisters, made only marginally better by the application of petroleum jelly and powder under two pair of socks.

“Run with resolution” the composer of Hebrews writes.

Sometimes it may be sprints: for short periods tackling a project for the common good with bursts of energy. (Unloading pumpkins, putting the roof on a Habitat house; rescuing a child from a dangerous situation; doing the Heimlich.) You don’t have time to think about it, you just respond with what you have to help in the situation.

But most of the days of our lives, our discipleship is lived out more like running a marathon or cross-country or hurdles. Not bursts of energy so much as endurance, patience, resolve----and overcoming obstacles: daily obedience, sticking with the objective----even when sacrifice is required.

John Wesley’s invitation to commitment, written for Watch Night service liturgy is a classic.
“In so giving yourselves to the Lord, you affirm that you will be heartily contented that He assign you to your work. Let Him assign you to your work. Christ has many services to be done; some are more easy and honorable, others more difficult and menial. Some are suitable to our inclinations and interests; others are contrary to both. In some we may please Christ and please ourselves, as when He requires us to feed and clothe ourselves. Indeed, there are some spiritual duties that are more pleasing than others; as to rejoice in the Lord, to bless and praise God. These are the sweet works of a Christian. But then there are other works. In these we cannot please Christ except by denying ourselves, as in enduring the sins and shortcomings of others, reproving others for their sins, withdrawing from their company; as in witnessing against their wickedness. Confessing Christ and His name is never easy when it costs us shame and ridicule. It is never easy to sail against the wind, swim against the tide, surrender our rights and privileges because Jesus Christ is our Lord.
See what it is that Christ expects and then yield yourselves to His whole will. Do not think of making your own terms with Christ; that will never be allowed.”
For this kind of disciplined life, we must also train along the way. Churches at their best are for training and equipping----equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for daily ministries of word and deed.

Following Christ means whatever it take to love be loving toward God (worship, prayer, waiting, ruminating, reflecting, being still, being with God as friend, and Sabbath-keeping).Toward the self:
(care of body, mid and soul, attention to your own needs). And loving toward God (contemplation, Sabbath-keeping).  And loving toward neighbors---- whoever and wherever they are with acts of mercy; acts for social justice and acts of witnessing to the hope that is in us.

Love of neighbor over the long haul requires us to seek to change the laws and customs that press any people into poverty and hopelessness; that keep any class or designated group from living with dignity as children of God.

But this is not all we are called to do. William Temple wrote, “When we give bread, we bear witness that no one lives by bread alone.”

 If we are following Jesus, our pioneer and perfecter, we cannot be ashamed of talking about Jesus Christ, what one woman called “gossiping the gospel.”

 This does not mean that we are called to push Jesus on people who are walking away from us, but, as we do the good news, sharing with neighbors ours hearts’ deepest love and devotion: speaking the word.

Our confession entails the affirmations: that Jesus Christ is all the world to us; that in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell; that salvation is found in him;  that the only God there is, is revealed in this man’s life and teaching, death and resurrection.  The best gift we have to offer, Martin Luther wrote, is Jesus Christ.

We do what Jesus leads us to do, even when there is persecution, rejection, even when we are ridiculed. If Jesus would stay the course for our sakes, there is nothing we will not suffer for his sake.

We are servants of the kingdom of God, not kings and queens of our own realms.

The only fitting response to this love divine, all loves excelling is to live and work right now, and for the rest of the days we have on this earth, with all that we have and are.

In His Steps by Charles Sheldon, was a best seller book of the 1920s, and still is available.

Sheldon’s fictional pastor challenged his congregation to live in response to this question in life’s circumstances:  “What would Jesus do?” And then follow as one is led.

This motto has been trivialized and made light of, with the proliferation of WWJD tee shirts and jewelry. And yet this is not a bad place to start. (My version is “What would Jesus Christ living in me do and say?”)

In his book, the church and its members were thrown into all kinds of conflict. This made the gospel too personal, too interruptive of common practices. It transformed people, changed the way they did business, the way they saw the poor, alcoholics, the locked out----and motivated people to build a better city.

A similar sentiment is expressed in the old hymn:

 “Oh Jesus Lord and Savior, I give myself to thee, for thou in thy atonement, didst give thyself for me. I want no other savior. My heart shall be thy throne. My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ for thee alone.”

Hebrews reminds us that to run the race with success we must set aside the sins which cling so closely.

Each person has their own list, which may include prejudices of all kinds, bitterness, desires for revenge, hatreds, quitting when the going gets tough, greed……distrust, carrying grudges, cutting a deal which is shady, betraying the trust someone has placed in you.

This admonition reminds us that discipleship is not an avocation, an add-on to an already-decided life. It is the willingness and dedication to be shaped into the person God has created you to be.

It means a generous giving of yourself and your resources---this is at the heart of the life in Christ.

When it comes to money (the forbidden subject!) we are judged by our practice of leaving a gratuity for the Lord after we are surfeited.

 We have to ask ourselves: are our commitments of  time, talents, gifts and service fitting responses to the One who sacrificed himself for us. Or are we giving God the leftovers?

In our life as a church in these hard times, the leaders of this church shouldn’t have to be reduced to begging for members’ financial commitments in order to underwrite the ministries, the outreach, the nurture and guidance that we all take for granted. Asking members to “just give a little more,” so that we can continue the work of Jesus Christ through this church is an insult to the Lord who said “He who loses his life for my sake gains his own life.”

Generosity? The meaning is not giving away what you need to provide the needs of yourself and those who depend on you. Generosity has nothing to do with having great wealth. Some of the most generous people I have known were people of modest means.

“When the times get tough, the tough get going,” we like to say.

But the gitty-up in our going if we follow Christ through the wildernesses of our time should not be running backward out of fear and despair. Of all times, hard-times are when the church should be the strongest!  

Running the race will require the best we have to offer, stepping up with all we have to advance the work of God’s kingdom----to love the neighbor as Christ did and does---especially when the race is long and the hurdles are high.

When some sisters and brothers are up against hard numbers, it falls to those of us who can to fill the gap----just as when a soldier is wounded, someone must take his position, or an athlete is hurt, the substitute must come in and do her best.

So let us, in the power God gives us in the Holy Spirit, run the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the One who, for love of us and the whole world, went up to Jerusalem to defeat the powers of evil by servant, suffering obedience.

 If we have decided to follow Jesus, there is no turning back, no turning back!

It is our turn to show what we are made of.

Either faith in God is something precious and indispensable to us, or it is not. For the earliest Christians it was life itself. “To live is Christ,” Paul wrote. “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God,” Peter says to Jesus. “The word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. We beheld his glory, glory as of the only son of the Father.” He is light in our darkness.

Let us not trivialize faith or discipleship. Being a Christian is not something you add on to any already busy life for decoration. Either you are captured by the Triune God or you go your own way. No judgment, just honesty.

The church is not a retail outlet for various spiritual or intellectual games. It is the body of Christ, God help us; the continuing incarnation of the living Lord. Either you and I have meant what we have vowed, or we do not. Either way, let us be candid:

Are we on this ship as crew or as passengers? Are we spectators and admirers or participants in the most crucial contest of all?