1 Cor 9:24-27
There was a big impact in our household in May
2009. We were still living in Lancaster PA and the paper contained a book
review by a local author. The book title “Born to Run” caught my attention.
You see, since our son Parr was an infant he
wanted to be barefoot. He would get in his car seat and promptly remove his
shoes. And in second or third grade he had teacher who confirmed what he had
been asserting, that people should not wear shoes, and that they should run
barefoot. It was natural and healthy.
Using all my fatherly wisdom I had explained
that Nike spends lots of money exploring running and shoes and they must know
what they are doing.
Now here was a book written about running
barefoot!
Yet again, my skills as a father were being
called into question. Since Parr did not regularly read the newspaper I could
have easily buried the story in the recycling bin. But instead we found the
book at the local library and two days later Parr read the last page of this
part novel part science book, he hands me the book and says “now you have to
read it.”
The author, Christopher McDougall, had been a
runner up to the point when his doctor said he could never run again. But he
kept wondering why running created pain, why human kind who had been running
since we stood upright now found running a problem. Then he learned of a
reclusive tribe of runners, the Tarahumara (tara-oo- mara) Indians, in Mexicoʼs
Copper Canyons. This tribe did not just run, they ran barefoot, and they ran
100 miles without rest just for fun!
As we get ready to watch the summer Olympics in
a few months the idea of a running race comes alive. Everyone lines up, the gun
goes off. Then someone crosses the line breaking the ribbon with their chest,
there is a winner.
Only the Tarahumara Indians did not do this.
They run on mountain trails that barely seemed to be marked. They survive the
race on a mixture of water and chia seeds. And when two villages race each
other it might be 100s of miles long over a period of several days, a distance
of DC to Atlanta, without a break. At the end of the race it is not the first
person across the line who wins. At the end of the race, everyone crosses the
line together. The faster runners pace the slower runners, they all work
together, they all finish together.
Pg 1 of 3
Following the race, the villages gather for a
party. There is plenty of food and drink and dancing for the celebration. It is
not a celebration of winners and consolation for the losers, it is a
celebration of running together.
This is the celebration that the apostle Paul
is talking about today in his letter to the church in Corinth. Runners compete
for a perishable wreath; but we run the race for an imperishable one - immortal
life.
Paul is running the race of the Gospel. Because
we donʼt know when the finish line will come, it is important for Paul to get
as many people running the race of the Gospel as he can. It is Paul who reaches
out to Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. Everyone participates.
And everyone finishes together.
African culture, across all the regions, has a
sense of community that is like this. It is the primordial principle of
“I-am-because-we-are.”
I am running this race because we are running
this race I am Christian because we are Christian
When I studied in Canterbury this past summer,
I witnessed this sense of community among the many African countries that were
represented in our group. It is not a sense of community that the Western world
shares, or even understands.
We know how to run the race. We run to get our
ribbon, our wreath, our prize. We compete to get into a good school. We compete
to get a good job, a promotion, a raise. We understand competition, we
understand running the rat race. We understand someone winning and someone
losing.
Running the way the Tarahumara Indians run, so
that everyone finishes and wins together, we donʼt get that. In the Olympics
this summer we will see dreams realized and dreams shattered.
But the dream of the Gospel is different. The
dream of Paul that we all receive an imperishable prize is different. It is a
dream of I-am-because-we-are.
I wonder what our lives would look like if we
could learn to run together? Run the race of the Gospel together? Finish and
win together?
Imagine if our intention, like Paulʼs, was to
always help someone.
Imagine if we learned to accept help from
others and if we learned that giving help and receiving help are both gifts.
Imagine if instead of me our concern was
for us.
Pg 2 of 3
What if deep in our heart, on our lips, and in
our actions our life said “I am a Christian because we are Christian”?
So in May 2009 Parr found written justification
for running barefoot, something he continues to do. Christopher MacDougall, at
6ʼ4” and 200 pounds, enjoys ultra- marathons barefoot. And my parenting skills
survived for the next test.
But what I want to know is how will we, as
Christians, run the race of the Gospel?
Will we each look for our own finish line?
Or, will we, like the Tarahumara Indians, run
together?
It seems to me that the celebration, the
heavenly banquet, will be that much better if we all finish together. After
all, whatʼs a party without our friends?
Amen,
Epiphany 6B
12 February 2012
Saint Patrickʼs DC
Henry McQueen
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