Saturday, July 27, 2024
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Chariots of fire
Bring me my Bow of burning gold:
Bring me my arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!
– from Jerusalem by William Blake
Exactly one hundred years ago, at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, Scottish Eric Liddell, the fastest man in Great Britain, found himself unable to run his race because it would be run on Sunday. “The Sabbath belongs to God. I cannot run.”
Born in China, he returned to the British Isles for a college degree and to play rugby. His speed broke hearts, and filled them up with joy. TCM showed Chariots of Fire this week a few days before this year’s Paris Olympic Games began last night. This film about Mr. Liddell and Harold Abrahams, the other fastest human in the world, inspired me. Its hypnotic score won an Oscar, along with six other “Bests,” including 1982’s Best Picture.
“I believe God made me for a purpose,” Eric told his sister, “and that purpose is in China. But he also made me fast! And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” Another British runner offered to switch races with Liddell, and thus he was able to run on Thursday, and win Olympic gold in the 400 yard race.
Blessed the men whose strength you are! They go from strength to strength.
Elijah’s chariot of fire found its way into William Blake’s imagination while he watched, grieving, Britain’s industrial transformation and continual warfare in the 18th and 19th centuries. His song “Jerusalem” invited Jesus to walk the hills and dales of England.
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?
“When I run, I feel his pleasure,” Eric told his sister. Come, Lord Jesus.
And now in 2024 the Games begin again, again in Paris, again with the fastest men and women in the world primed and ready. Our daughter Andi and her family were “counting down the minutes” Friday morning before the Opening Ceremony. Her two young sons LOVE the Olympics. They’ll be watching, and so will we, watching athletes who amaze us all, and whether they use the same words as Mr. Liddell, when they perform they “feel God’s pleasure.”
Eric Liddell’s missionary life resumed in China after the Olympics. He made headlines for heaven there, too. In For the Glory, a biographer wrote:
Mr. Liddell believed entirely that those to whom ‘much is given’ are obliged to give ‘much in return’—and should do so without complaining about it. In adhering to this, he never demanded grand happiness or great comfort for himself. He grasped only for the things that mattered to him: worthwhile work and the care of his family.
I can’t wait to watch 2024’s Olympic offering of sacrifice, trials and triumph, and remember what happened a hundred years ago.
Blessed are they who dwell in your house, continually they praise you. I had rather one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.
(Jeremiah 7, Psalm 83, James 1, Matthew 13)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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