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Colossians 2:16-18 & Philippians 3:8-14
“ I press on toward the goal to win the prize.” …. The very words of every Olympic contender! .. Did you see the opening ceremony Friday night? Astounding… very moving. “I press on toward the goal to win the prize!”
The apostle Paul uses a lot of athletic imagery to talk about Christian life. Paul’s sports talk is actually quite surprising. It is true that in the first century CE, spectator sports were an important part in the life of every Graeco-Roman city. But to Jews, to Jesus believers, such games were and anathema because they were frequently associated with the worship of pagan deities, especially emperor worship. Athletes, would often compete naked. Gambling on the outcome of the contests would have been as addictive then as now. A great deal of brutality and bloodshed also occurred during these games. Paul is a guy – right? Most guys are sports fans. Paul was no different. So he uses images from sporting event to help him make his point. He uses sports analogies to encourage the Corinthian Christians to have the same kind of discipline, determination, and endurance that athletes have, to confront and even embrace the emotional and spiritual demands of training to follow Christ and well as the physical.
Athletes certainly offer excellent models of the patient, determined, rigorous struggle to achieve. The Olympic athletes we’ve been watching offer us ample evidence of this. So many of the stories tell of the struggle. Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko said,:If you want to believe in something, you must also believe in the struggle it took to get there… When I was 4,”he said, “I saw a competition and sait to my mum, I have to be there.” Never mind that he and his brother spent much of their childhood collecting bottles to sell so the family could eat, or that at age 11, the state took him 1000 miles away from that family to train him to skate. He earned Olympic gold. Over the next 16 days in Italy, Piper Gilles and Paul Porier, Brett Gallant, Connor Mc David and so many others will be repeating these words and working hard, physically and mentally to follow through!
Paul is calling us to understand the prize we are working toward. It is not necessarily the Olympic gold that he had in mind. No, Paul had in mind the prize of a faithful Christian life, a process of being shaped and formed more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Paul calls us to a life that transcends individual achievement, a life informed by God’s great love, that holds purpose and strives for justice.
What is you life goal? What are you willing to work at to become the Christian disciple that our God invited us to be? What does it mean to you to win your race, to be the kind of person you most want to be? Do you have a vision of the kind of person you would like to be?
Spiritual discipline, spiritual training, is a win/win situation. It is a way to thing differently, then to act differently, You are being invited to imagine the best self you strive to be.
Life is great! Life is worth living … as we press on toward our individual goals that God in Christ has called us to. And the really great thin is? Everyone in God’s Olympic Game wins the prize! Love, friendships, a hug when you come in last, the blessings of a heart for another when you come in first. Oh to be in Christ .. and Christ in you! What a prize! (taken from service Fwb 8,2026)
Creation Connection:
Wonder at the world around you for, as Socrates declared, “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
Sunday Scripture Readings February 15, 2025
Transfiguration Sunday
- Exodus 24:12-18 God calls Moses up the mountain
- 2 Peter 1:16-21 The morning star rises in your hearts
- Matthew 17: 1-9 Jesus is transfigured on the mountain
Lay Leader: Lorna Lay Reader: Kaireen
Announcements:
Sunday Service is at 11 am. we welcome all who are on a faith journey to join us.
Prayer Shall group will meet on Sat, Feb. 21 in the Family room at the Church at 2-3:30 pm. Knitting and crochet supplies are available. Come and join in conversation and enjoy the fellowship.
Annual General meeting of the Church will be on Sunday Feb. 22, after the morning service.
February is Black History Month
Feb. 16- Family Day
Feb. 17 – Lunar New Year ( Year of the Horse)
Feb. 20 – World Day of Social Justice
Feb. 22 – Scout and Guide Day
Feb. 25 – Pink Shirt Day – Anti-Bullying.
Please note that the Church office is no longer open, if you need help, please phone the church and leave a message.
https://www.facebook.com/FirstUCWawa
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