August 19, 2007

Running the Race

Isaiah 5: 1-7; Heb.11: 29-12: 2

It was baseball season in a small Pennsylvania town. A certain ten-year-old had sat on the bench most of the season. But in the championship game, his coach finally called him up to bat. The little boy’s whole extended family had turned out for this very special game. His parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, second cousins--they were all there, cheering and clapping and shouting words of encouragement. The little boy swallowed his anxiety and stepped up to the plate. He gripped the bat and stared hard at the pitcher. Whoosh! The pitch flew by him. Strike one! From the stands, his family cheered him on: “You can do it! You can do it!”  So he lifted his bat again and waited for the pitch.  Again he swung and connected with thin air. Strike two! His shoulders started to slump and his hands began to sweat, as he stared down the pitcher one last time. Whoosh! Strike three! The other team jumped and shouted for joy, while the little boy’s teammates gave him the silent treatment as they left the field. The little batter slumped over on the dugout bench, put his head in his hands, and began to cry. But his crying was interrupted by the sound of his father’s voice: “Son,” he said, “you know that we love you.”  “Come on, let’s play some more.”  Lifting his head, the boy saw his family--all of them--even his frail grandmother, spread out across the field, waiting to play. They began cheering loudly as the boy picked up his bat. His father pitched the ball, and the boy swung. Crack! The ball flew into the outfield, and the boy took off for first base. As he rounded the bases, cousins, uncles and aunts shouted words of encouragement. Somehow, all those able adults were unable to get a handle on the ball the boy had hit. As the boy crossed home base, his father greeted him with open arms. They celebrated together.[1] 

Whether the person is a ten year old boy who has just struck out or a Christian accomplishing great things for Christ, everybody needs encouragement. 

In today’s reading from Hebrews the writer fulfills the role of a great encourager. He addresses his words to a Christian church slumped over by despair, beaten down by the threat of persecution and imprisonment; he writes to a people who have endured taunting and mockery-all because of their Christian faith. It was not just a select few whose energy and hope have been drained. I get the feeling that discouragement was so pervasive that the community was unable to help itself. 

After recalling the names of some of the great Old Testament people of faith, the author offers these words of encouragement:

“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”

Two days after Christmas Day of 1982, I began to experience numbness in my feet.  A day later the pain running down my right leg was literally more than I could bear.  The first doctor I saw put me on some medication to ease the pain and then said he wanted me to check into the hospital and undergo a mylogram.    He suspected a ruptured disk.  I suspected he wanted to do surgery on me.  The January term was scheduled to begin in another week.  I wanted to take Hebrew with my seminary classmates.  “If I have surgery,” I said to myself, “I may not be able to return to school until September.”  With pain medicine working well, I decided to seek a second opinion.  A few days later I was in one of the examining rooms of the large medical center in Kingsport, Tennessee.  The neurosurgeon, an old and wise man, after examining me said: “I think, David, with a combination of rest and exercise, you’ll be fine.” 

Over the next four weeks, I rested and I walked.  The time and distance of my walks alongside the winding country roads of Southwest Virginia gradually increased.  By the end of January, I was free of pain, free of pain medication, free to pack my bags and return to Richmond.  

Only those who have been homebound with a sickness or injury for several weeks or more can understand the gloom that sets in. 

Do you know what sustained me during that five week period?  I received dozens of letters, cards and telephone calls from classmates and professors in Richmond, Virginia.  They lifted my spirits.  And the visits of people from the Green Springs Presbyterian Church encouraged me.  I remember lying in bed with probably five or six of the elders of that church surrounding me and lifting prayers to God in my behalf. 

“Don’t give up.  Persevere.  Stay in the race.”

 There is no telling how many Christians stayed in the race and crossed the finish line because of the encouragement they received from the writer of Hebrews.  He exhorts those despairing Christians by linking their lives to people who will inspire them.   The new extended community includes people from the past who knew despair, but who kept running the race of faith.  Collectively they form a cloud of witnesses.  For the writer, it is as if Gideon, Samson, David, and Samuel are all still living.  In fact, they are as close as the grandstands are to the stadium track.  They are cheering and encouraging the runners to run with perseverance. 

 You may recall hearing me speak of Aunt Barbara, Barbara Marsalis, who was my mother’s sister.  She was in her early forties when her husband died.  For the next thirty years she lived alone.  But I never thought of Aunt Barbara as being alone.  After teaching first graders for thirty-five years or more, she retired. That was when her volunteer work really accelerated.  She spent hours upon hours at the hospital and countless days at the church working with the elderly and the children.  

Then, not long ago, the cancer came and she died.  She became part of that cloud of witnesses of which the author writes. 

 When the race is full of hurdles and my legs grow weary, I think of Aunt Barbara and of all the other people of faith who have preceded us.  I remember people who faced great odds and yet remained perseverant.  When gloom sets in, I am encouraged by the cloud of witnesses-the great saints of my family and of this church family- who ran the race of Christianity with devotion and integrity.   Looking over my shoulder, through eyes of faith I see them. They are cheering us onward. 

“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”   Amen.

 By David Sherrod