Sermons
Sermon of the Service for the opening of the world championship of the field athletics, Berlin Cathedrale (1st Corinthians 9;24-27)
Bishop Dr. Wolfgang Huber, Chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD)
August 13, 2009
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. There-fore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
(1st Corinthians 9;24-27)
I.
"On your marks" - - "get set" - - "go!" These three brief, clear and unmistakable announce-ments will be heard over and over again at the blue starting track in the Olympic Stadium of Berlin during the next days. The starting shot, however, has drowned out and replaced the "go!" as the last signal long before.
Nothing goes more through you than this shot. In the last row of the upper ring of the stadium you can still hear it. On the starting track it electrifies even more having the referee right next to you. Its impetus gets the athlete's body started with all its strength. Only a few minutes ago he had still been trying to overcome his nervousness with loosening up exer-cises. Following his own rituals he had moved around the starting block until the call "On your marks". Then he lowered himself into the starting block where his tension rose noticeably with the signal "get set". Then the penetrating shot.
I still remember from my own school times' physical exercises the sound of the start-ing flap. It was the crowning of the words "Auf die Plätze!" "Fertig!" "Los!" and triggered the flow of all our withheld youthful energy then already, unloading itself on the following 100 or 200 meters in more or less respectable speed.
All these impulses, all these signals have only one aim: Each of the starters is given the same starting chances. With the starting signal the competition in reaching the goal as fast as possible begins. Fair it must be. Here goes: Life punishes him who comes to soon! With the starting signal one shoots off the starting block as swiftly as possible, but only the next meters will show who speeds up the most and who is going to drop out of the running in beauty or pain.
Professional training all participants of this World Championship enjoyed. Each single one who travelled to this Championship underwent a long training period. Each one of those who go to the starting line in Berlin has dedicated years to this discipline, has grown in it, has gotten himself fit step by step through cleverly devised training methods and food programmes. Without such intensive preparation top performance is unattainable.
Training methods have changed. Physical preparation has even surpassed some boarder lines. Clearing the disciplines of doping and keeping them clear is one of the most important tasks for the future of sports. In other respects, however, the competitions are the same as ever: No matter at what time someone has committed himself to competitive sport, before everything else he had to fight himself. Before you meet the opponent you meet with your own lethargy and have to overcome your own weakness. The struggle with your self is the crucial precondition for winning the struggle against others.
II.
The apostle Paul knew that much already, when he wrote to the Corinthian parish:
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
As far as we know the apostle Paul was not sporting. Unsightly he was said to look. Small and short his shape was, signed by disease, so they say about him - and so he de-scribes himself. To imagine that the apostle was doing sports I consider - allow me the com-parison - as unlikely as in Winston Churchill's case whose most quoted line was: No sports.
However, it seems St. Paul showed an interest in the disciplines of his times. With a few sketchy lines he was able to describe them exactly. Two kinds of sports he puts in front of us: the race and the fight with fists. For the race you must imagine a running distance of about 200 meters. The antique Olympic stadium contained a track of 186 meters. Many people were looking on, just like today. They observed the beauty of the runners as well as their speed. He was not only supposed to be good but also to be beautiful. For both qualities he would gain the victor's wreath. It might wither away later; for the moment of victory it is of timeless beauty.
So St. Paul knew, that the competition even in comparison to the length of preparation for it is extremely short. Most of the fastest runners in the world need less than 10 seconds to cover the distance now. Only who can see more in it than the success of the moment can tackle the grinding training. Abstinence the apostle calls the grind. And that was at times when you hardened for performance only through asceticism; there was no talk of doping yet.
He leaves no doubt about what he means with asceticism. He who wants to win "goes into strict training". It is obvious that the apostle does not only mean, eating and drinking habits are included. Abstinence is regarded by him as the means to sporty success.
Sportsmen and women today are public people. Their glory is among to the most desirable things our media can award. However, this glory is transient. Paul's diagnose is still valid today: "They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever."
III.
Does is exist, such an everlasting victor's wreath? Is it worthwhile to even contemplate a glory beyond the transient one which is after all the highest human beings can achieve with their own power?
Yes, there is such a wreath: It is not the mark of transient glory but of everlasting dig-nity. It does not owe to human power but to the grace of God. It is not reserved for just one person but is offered to all of us. The one who receives this victor's wreath needs not set someone back for its sake. This victor's wreath is handed out freely. It was given to us at the time of our baptism already.
In many of our Brandenburg village churches you can find a special piece of furnish-ing: an angel of baptism. He hangs down from the ceiling on a rope, floating there he holds the font. When there is a baptism to take place you can pull him down, pour water into the font and celebrate the baptism. When he is not needed anymore, you can move him back up; the narrow measured space in the village church is available again. An exact counterweight makes sure the angle flies in any height you wish.
Some of these angels not only hold the font in their hand but a victor's wreath in the other one. I always wondered what the relation of font and victor's wreath derives from. The answer is so simple. It stems from St. Paul: "They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever."
Since with the baptism this victor's wreath is promised to us, all running, struggling, training, the abstinence has not become superfluous. The difference, however, is made clear. Once again, speaking with Paul: "Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
The dignity of our life we owe to the grace of God. We are keeping to a victor's prize we ourselves could never achieve. That is the reason why gratefulness deter-mines our life. Yet, gratefulness times consequences. There is something like the discipline of faith, too.
We need moulds in which we remain consciously, which carry us - in life and in death. A life in faith needs its own units of training, times of contemplation and introspection, times of joy and of fortune, times of love and devotion to people who need us. He who wants to live in union with God needs periods in which he opens up to God.
IV.
Therefore is good and right that our churches are setting a clear Christian emphasis during this World Championship. We are opening up space for God. It is necessary that sportsmen and -women have the opportunity in their hostels and in the stadium to turn to God in prayer and exchange about the faith.
We have created retreats of silence in which priests from many nations are present for contacts In the stadium our chapel is open for athletes, trainers, officials, journalists and many others. Here one can bring before God both the joy over a victory as well as disappointment over defeats. In one as the other case we know: With God, our's is the everlasting wreath, the everlasting dignity.
He who wants to keep out of the top sport the dimension of faith does not understand human existence in its entirety. The World Championship of Field Athletics is not only a show of international performance of the world's best athletes. No, such a World Championship gives room to encounter - with other people and with God.
Big sport events have always stimulated the encounter of people from different cultures and have solidified international relations. Here people with differing attitudes, religions, descents, customs and habits meet. They open themselves up to one another and contribute to growing understanding. This World Championship as well harbours the chance of tearing down walls between people.
That is important to me on this particular day. To the day 48 years ago the Berlin Wall was erected. Order to shoot and barbed wire have been German reality for decades. Families and friends had been torn away from each other on 13th of August 1961. Separated were sportsmen and -women who had been training together in the same club. Houses, even churches were blown up to lay a wide, insurmountable belt of death between East and West. The encounter of people and the boarder crossing communication was to be prevented. However, life breaks open its own way.
Twenty years ago the Berlin Wall fell. Even today it still feels like a wonder to us. Candles and prayers helped that this became possible. Strangers fell in each other's arms and cried with happiness. The strength of faith became visible.
This World Championship of Field Athletics for me is one of the big accents within this year's celebrations of the present of freedom we received twenty years ago: in a united Berlin, in a united Germany, in a common Europe, in one world.
Unfortunately it is also true, that new walls are erected over and over again in our world. Hatred and jealousy, envy and greed are pushing themselves between the people. In sports unfairness and doping build up walls of disconcertment. To not put up with it is our common obligation. A World Championship in Berlin must particularly send out this signal: We tear down all walls of illegal increase of performance and unfair behaviour and set up a sign for fair and peaceful sports. In it will not only be a struggle for the wreath that will not last but also for the wreath that will last for ever. It is not only about medals but also about human dignity. For this we pray, for this we ask for God's blessing.
Therefore we lay everything in the hands of God. What we are able to do is ready and prepared for. The World Championship can begin. For us and all who are participating this can only mean: "On your marks" - - "Get set" - - "go!"
Amen