When I say Rio, you say Olympics! Fanfare and pageantry worthy of Brazilian flare; Michael Phelps, swimming superstar, carrying the American flag into the stadium, refugee athletes walking under an Olympic flag to compete on the world stage. The Opening Ceremony was so filled with hope, expectations, and faith embedding in years of training and sacrifice. You could almost sense the dreams of the athletes, the pregnant expectation of gold, and the opportunity to be the best in the entire world.
What a blessing to have this reprieve of coming together, striving for excellence when the news of late has been filled with bombings, shootings, a truck used as a weapon. How wonderful it is to watch stellar competition rather than the politics of fear and vitriol. What a relief to celebrate the Olympic torch uniting our world, instead of worrying about the fires up and down our beautiful state charring our hillsides, and clouding the air we breathe.
Much like our two scripture passages, the Olympics is a contest between fear and faith. This year people feared traveling to Rio because of the threat of Zika, yet the athletes have had years of faithful training just to be able to compete. Fears about whether they can earn the expected gold some have said they should win, alongside, unyielding faith in themselves just to complete at this level. The athletes train in good faith that they will win, even though only a handful of them actually do. Most of the 10,000 Olympic competitors will go home empty handed, much like the people of faith who died without receiving the promises. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses never entered the Promised Land, but they each won the gold medal for faithfulness. They kept the faith even when it felt like they were losing. They were faithful to God even when the reward did not come in this life.
Both passages are talking about faith in something bigger than this life. The assurance of things hoped for and the eternal life not seen. The heroes of the faith persevered in their unyielding belief in God and ultimately they found their place in God’s kingdom. They found their place in the city whose architect and builder is God; the same God who assuages our fear with the pleasure of giving us the kingdom. Hebrews 11 is known as the faith chapter; because of the 18 times the author says “by faith” the ancient heroes take action like Noah, Joseph, and Rahab. By faith they have tasted the thrill of victory and the dealt with the agony of defeat.
I love beach volleyball, and watching Kerri Walsh Jennings play. I heard and interview with her on the Today Show and she talked about visualizing a positive outcome in Rio. It sounded like she was an avid disciple of visualization technique. Creative visualization purposefully generates mental imagery to induce the intended outcome. There are three steps to this process. First create an image, see what you want to have happen, then maintain that vision even when it starts to fade. Then be transformed by that image in such a way as to improve your situation or performance. Kerri did that when after winning the gold medal in London knowing her partner was retiring she leaned over to her moments-ago opponent and whispered, “Okay, let’s go get gold in Rio.” So when you see April Ross playing with Kerri Walsh Jennings know she visualized that into being.
Sports people call this visualization using it for performance and a mental edge, but I would simply call that faith. It is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. When we visual God’s love surrounding us, and maintain that vision even when things get hard then we are using our faith. I know that I have a mental edge, and benefit by allowing God to transform me through my faith, making me a better person because of my relationship with Christ. I have faith that even when things look bad today, God has something better for me. I don’t have to give up because I don’t win. We know through faith that God is bigger than any competition and better than any medal. Unlike the Olympic athletes we do not have to compete to enter God’s kingdom; it is God’ good pleasure to give this eternal promise to you.
So this life is not about what we win, or what we earn, or treasures we build up here on earth. It is about being faithful to God and being ready.
Harry Andersen was ready. He had terminal cancer, but kept his sense of faith and hope alive. His pastor could tell he was ready because they talked about Christ’s death and resurrection and what this event means for us when we die. Harry showed no fear since he believed the promises of God. In addition, a sign of Harry’s faith and hope was expressed in the humor he shared with his pastor.
After scripture reading and prayer, Harry told the pastor the story of a man who was dying of cancer, in this story this man was bedridden on the second floor of his house. He could smell the aroma of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven downstairs. He loved chocolate chip cookies. As a matter of fact, they were his favorite. He forced himself to get out of bed and crawled to the flight of steps leading downstairs. Each step brought new pain to his body, but he had to have some of those chocolate chip cookies. When he got to the bottom of the stairs, he crawled to the kitchen table and reached up for a cookie.
Suddenly, his wife appeared out of nowhere and slapped his hand with a spatula.
“Why did you do that?” he cried out. “Those cookies are for your funeral reception,” she said.
Harry Andersen laughed out loud as he told the story. The pastor rolled on the floor with laughter at the unexpected ending. Then Harry said, “That’s just the kind of thing my wife would do.”
Just then Harry’s wife walked into the room. “I wouldn’t do that,” she said smiling at the pastor, “but there’s something else I’d like to do at Harry’s funeral.”
“What’s that?” asked the pastor.
“I’d like to pass out plastic forks to everyone as they arrive for the funeral.”
“Plastic forks?”
“Yes,” she said. “I love the story about the woman who went to many church potlucks and always rejoiced when she was given a new plastic fork at the end of the meal. That meant that homemade pie was being served for dessert. When she got the fork, she always said, ‘The best is yet to come.’ ”
A few weeks later, Harry died. As the parishioners arrived at the church door, they were each given a plastic fork. When they asked the reason for this unusual gift, they were told that they would hear more about it later. The title of the pastor’s funeral sermon was, “The Best Is Yet To Come.” He explained that Jesus died for us that we might be forgiven and go to heaven. “It is the Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom” he said, quoting Luke 12:32. Then he told the story of the woman who loved homemade pie at the end of church potlucks and he pointed out that Harry was being buried with a plastic fork in his casket because when we have faith and hope in the Lord in this life, the best is yet to come (Sermons.com).
Harry was ready to meet Jesus. Some people aren’t. Their hearts are set on the treasures of this world instead of heaven. They don’t wait patiently for the Lord with faith and hope. They don’t act faithfully with their eyes focused on the Lord, their lamps lit and dressed for action (Luke 12:35).
Life can be a competition full of fear or it can be a journey embedded in faith trusting that the final destination is heaven. We still might not receive all the promises of the races we run here on earth, but we do know how the story ends – our life completes with God – because the best is yet to come. Amen.
