new church life: september/october 2016
olympic gold
The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece were both religious and athletic
festivals. City-states and kingdoms vied for laurel crowns amid animal
sacrifices and religious overtones. Legend has it that any conflicts were put
aside until after the Games. This was history’s first vision of promoting peace
by bringing people together to face off in athletic competition rather than war.
It didn’t really work then. And it doesn’t seem to be working now. The
Olympic ideal still inspires hope, but it seems quickly overwhelmed by the
harsh realities of the world. Might it be working better though than we imagine?
Just before this year’s Summer Olympics began in Brazil, the Rev. Jeremy
Simons preached a sermon in Bryn Athyn, Peace is not a Game. For two golden
weeks these modern “Games” took over a world stage dominated by terrorism,
raging conflict and divisive rhetoric that seem to defy any hope of peace but
gave us a sense of unity, nobility and peace.
Jeremy offered the encouraging conviction that when we bring to the
Games the perspective of the Lord’s Word and providence, the unity that can
seem both real and illusory contributes to the dream.
“When the international community comes together for the Olympic
Games,” he said, “something emulating cooperation and love among all people
takes place. Surely international organizations like the United Nations, the Red
Cross and many others play a more important role than the Games do. But the
Olympics do some things that these others do not.
“For one thing, they are visual, easy to understand, non-political and
popular. Many millions of people in all parts of the world follow them with
interest.”
Sadly, the Olympics have become stained with politics and corruption, but
the ideal still lifts our spirit. We feel it with the parade of nations opening the
event, with thousands of athletes and officials from all over the world coming
together in a great show of peace and love. The triumphs, the failures, the joy
just of representing one’s country, and all the personal journeys touch our
hearts.
The final celebration left a glow of hope before plunging us back into all of
the strife and challenges in the world. There may not have been an epiphany of
world peace but there was profound relief that the terrorism everyone feared
in such a target-rich setting never even threatened. We are left again with the
feeling that no matter what evil emerges in the world – and evil unfortunately
will ever be with us – goodness from the Lord always prevails.
Jeremy offered this encouragement: “It is not that the Games solve
anything in particular in the near future. Rather, it is that the repetition of
events like these gradually changes the mindset of people in every part of the
world.
502