Last Sunday our gathering began in the sun, but we were quickly forced inside as the rain began to fall and the unpredictable weather continued. However, as we worshipped, reflected, and prayed together, Ellis shared about how he felt God had been speaking to him about the need to keep persevering through the letters ‘TRY’ on a car number plate. Stuart then linked this to how the early church used the idea of an athlete training to compete in a race to describe how we, as Christians, are called to train ourselves in godliness (1 Tim. 4:7-8). This sparked something in Judy who shared about how we are not competing against each other in this race but are called to encourage and strengthen each other as run (Heb. 12:1) and that sometimes we don’t even know where the finishing line is and so we are called to ‘live by faith and not by sight’ (2 Cor. 5:7).

‘Train yourself in godliness, for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come’

Paul the Apostle

As I was listening to all of this, I was reminded me of how I once went for a run in Ashtead common and as I was running, someone, with a number pinned to their top, ran past me in the opposite direction. I thought this was a little odd but didn’t give it much more thought until two, three, and then a whole load of more runners began to emerge, all running straight past me. Slowly it dawned on me that there was an official race on and they were all heading toward the finish line and I was running in the opposite direction. Now every time a runner ran past me, I became a little more self-conscious as I realised that they must all think I am either a little crazy or completely lost!

As I ran on, I reflected on how this was a bit of a picture of what it means to live the Christian life. That as humans we are all running the race of life, but that Jesus calls us to live in way that is completely counter-cultural to the wider society and may cause some to think that we are either a little unhinged or just very, very lost. But we are not called to think as the world thinks, to value what the world values, to act as the world acts, to spend as the world spends, or to judge as the world judges, for the kingdom of God turns the conventional wisdom of our day on its head. So embrace the summons to be a ‘fool for Christ’ this day and don’t stop dancing just because others don’t yet hear the music!