Pretend, for just a moment, that
you and I are competing in a foot race. We’re at the starting line. What do you
focus on? You don’t focus on me; this is your
race. You don’t focus on the pain that you’ll probably experience during the
race when your lungs start to burn and your muscles cry out for relief. No, your
focus is on the finish line! Even if you aren’t sure you’ll win, you want to
put in your best effort and finish that race with dignity and courage. Paul
uses that image of an athlete over and over again in his letters to early
Christian churches. Most of you are familiar with what he said in the second
letter to Timothy when he neared the end of his life: “I have fought the good
fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). But
in the text from Acts that I just read, Paul isn’t yet nearing the end of his
life. He is still in the middle of that race and looking ahead to the finish
line. “I just want to finish,” he says. “I don’t know what is going to happen
to me when I get to Jerusalem, and I want to be able to do my best regardless
of what I might have to endure.”
I doubt if Paul was an athlete
himself. We have mosaic pictures of Paul from the first century; and if we can
trust them, he was a short, stumpy, balding little man. That’s not my image of
an athlete; but I’ll bet that he admired those athletes just like I admire Olympic
gymnasts. I have no hope of ever being an Olympic gymnast (or an Olympic
anything), but I really admire what they are able to do! Foot races were a very
popular sporting events in ancient Greece, and I’ll bet that Paul admired those
athletes. I’ve often wondered what kind of race Paul had in mind when he talked
about running the race. There are all kinds of races, you know. The most famous
ones today are Olympic events. The shortest Olympic races are sprints. The
shortest sprint is only 100 meters, less than the length of a football field.
The record for that race is held by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who ran it in
less than 10 seconds! On the other end of the spectrum is the marathon,
requiring a run of over 26 miles. The fastest distance runners can complete it
in just over 2 hours. Which kind of race was Paul talking about? In Paul’s time,
the most famous race was the stadion,
which was just over 200 meters in length. The longest was the dolichos, which covered a distance of
about 3 miles. I doubt very much if Paul was talking about the sprint. The
Christian life is, after all, a very long haul! It takes perseverance, courage,
and lots of training to be able to run the race well. I’m betting that Paul was
thinking about that 3-mile race which is much longer and more difficult than a
sprint! I don’t know about you, but I think that the Christian life is much
more like a marathon than a sprint!
But Paul’s image, as helpful as
it is, has some limitations. Is our Christian life always a straight-line race
across a well-defined route with a clearly-marked goal? I recently read an
essay that suggested that a life of faith is less like a race than it is like a
dance. That got my attention; and I started thinking about the dance marathons
that were held in the 1920s and 30s. Some of you may never have heard about
them. These dance marathons were called “endurance dances,” and the goal was to
dance longer than all the other couples. These competitions lasted anywhere
from several hours to a couple of weeks! In shorter competitions, dancers were
disqualified if they fell asleep, but they were permitted to leave the dance floor
briefly to use the restroom, to take medication, or to change clothes. For
longer events, dancers competed in teams so that they could catch a little bit
of sleep during the competition. The music was varied, so the dancers had to be
ready to do a variety of dances: the foxtrot, the waltz, or maybe the tango. It
was fun; but it was also a long, difficult event.
Is a life of faith like that
dance? I think it is. I’m not rejecting Paul’s image of a race; but I think that
picturing our lives as a dance is useful, too. To begin with, we never know
where our lives will go. Races are run over a defined course; and the runner
just runs on the track or follows the signposts. I’ll bet that your life hasn’t
been quite that straightforward! We may start out in our younger days confident
of where we’ll be in 20 years; but after those 20 years have passed, that isn’t
where we are at all. Job interviewers frequently ask, “Where do you see
yourself in 5 years?” I have to smile at that question. My answer, after almost
a lifetime of twists and turns, is “How the heck do I know?” We all know that
life is unpredictable. We have certainly seen that during the past few months.
All the things that we thought we could count on – sporting events; graduation
ceremonies; gathering with friends; going to church on Sunday morning; even, in
some cases, a job – all those things melted away, and we were left standing
like deer in the headlights wondering, “What in the world do I do now?” To say
that we never saw it coming was an understatement! When you’re running a race,
you know what’s coming and you train to prepare for it. But in those dance
marathons, the participants never knew what the music would be. It might start
out as a nice, easy two-step, then turn into a waltz, and then change to a
tango. The dancers had to change their steps to adapt to the music. Sometimes
they danced in one direction, then in another, even sideways, all following the
music that was playing at the time. Does that sound like your life? We
sometimes joke that life is three steps forward and two steps back; but that’s
frequently not as much of a joke as we would like it to be! In fact, it describes a dance! I’m not always
running forwards on an easy track or an obvious course. In fact, that’s almost
never what I'm doing. That’s why life is so difficult; we can’t count on our
plans working out. Do you remember what Forrest Gump said? “Life is like a box
of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” Isn’t that the truth!
But here’s the good news! When
athletes run a race, they run all by themselves; but we aren’t dancing all by
ourselves! We have a partner in our dance; and that partner is Jesus Christ. Jesus
is the very best partner to have in this dance called life, because Jesus understands
not only the music of the dance and the steps of the dance; he understands us,
too! Jesus knows how to change our dance steps when the music changes suddenly;
and he will lead us in the steps that are best for both the music and for our
own ability. He won’t ask us to do the Charleston or the Lindy Hop if we only
know how to do a simple two-step. He will guide us around obstacles on the
dance floor if we will follow his lead. He will whirl with us joyfully when we
are full of energy, and help us to stay on our feet when we are exhausted. And
when it is so difficult that we just want to give up, he will encourage us,
helping us to keep dancing. Life is, indeed, very much like a dance marathon;
and I hope that you always trust in your partner to lead you in the steps that
are right for the music, and right for you. That’s what he wants to do. He’s
standing on the dance floor right now, inviting you to join him in the dance of
life. Why don’t you take him up on his invitation? He’s the best partner that
you’ll ever have!
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