What If Peace…

I have caught the fever that holds millions in its grip today…

No… this is not a new wave of COVID… I have the fever that comes every two years, stealing away our valuable sleep as we sit glued to our TVs and internet feeds to catch a glimpse of Olympic excellence. Perhaps you are a bit tired today because you stayed up late last night to watch our Men’s Gymnastics team bring home the Bronze, breaking a 16-year medal drought for the U.S. in that sport. The elation of our Men’s Gymnastic team was exhilarating to watch! Tonight, I will sacrifice more sleep for the opportunity to watch our women gymnasts compete for the Gold. My family commits not to peek at the results from the competitions of the day, so that we can share in the surprise of the outcome each night. I will be swept away with this fever until the closing ceremonies on August 11th.

My fascination with the Olympics found me googling Olympic trivia. Did you know…

• The first Olympics happened in Greece in 776 BCE to honor the Greek god Zeus. The name "Olympics" comes from Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. The first athletes were naked as they competed in feats of strength, speed and skill, allowing spectators to observe the ‘beauty of the human form.’ Temples to various Greek gods dotted the Olympic grounds allowing competitors to give sacrifices to their hometown god before competing. The Olympic torch honored Hestia, the Greek goddess of hearth and home. In many ways, the ancient Olympics was a religious festival.
• The ancient games were banned by the Roman Christian Emperor Theodosius I in 393 CE because he believed they were a "pagan abomination.”
• Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, inspired the start of the modern Olympic games. Originally, he proposed the games to begin in France in 1900. But the newly formed International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to inaugurate the first games of the modern Olympiad in Greece in 1896.
• In 2024, 11,000 athletes from 200 countries will compete in 32 sports in 329 events. The United States will be represented by 637 athletes.
• NBC and partner networks will cover 17 nights of Primetime coverage and over 7000 programming hours for our watching pleasure (or obsession).
• The United States currently holds the most Olympic Gold- 1022 Gold medals.
• The five Olympic rings- blue, yellow, black, green and red- represent the five parts of the world- Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas, and Europe.
• The five Olympic values are: Joy of effort; Fair play; Respect of others; Pursuit of excellence; Balance of body, will and mind.

I love the competition, the back stories of sacrifice, the glimpse of athletes’ families in the stands, and the feats of sport that take my breath away. But most of all, I love watching what the world could be like if peace were a shared world value. Last night, eight teams vied for Olympic glory on the gymnastics floor. Among those teams were the United States, China and Ukraine. Think about the political reality of those countries. The United States and China compete for world resources and world economic dominance. We spy on each other. We accuse each other of cybercrimes. We challenge each other on the field of battle through proxy nations like Ukraine- our instruments of war in Ukrainian hands battling Chinese instruments of war in Russian hands. I fear what could come if we battled face to face over Taiwan and the East China Sea. But on the gymnastics floor, those dangerous rivalries give way to a competition where respect and fair play hold sway. At the end of the night, China and the United States shared the podium, taking silver and bronze respectively- handshakes offered, respect given, friendships formed across political divides. Yet, while the world observes the Olympic bubble of peace, war still ravages Ukraine. If only peace…

I have that same ‘if only’ yearning for our nation. Today, we will be united as we cheer our athletes on to victory, celebrating years of effort by over 600 of our own citizens. They proudly carry the flag to represent the best of who we are for the world to see. We are proud of those who will add to our medal count and those whose efforts will fall short of the podium. Today, we will be united (perhaps tears in some of our eyes) as our national anthem is played when our Women’s Gymnastics team takes their Gold medal place on the podium. (This is not a spoiler alert, just my firm hope). Today, we will be united as we watch the world competing peacefully in an Olympic bubble across the ocean. If only our unified cheer would sound more loudly than the cries for division. If only peace…

St. Paul wrote to a divided church in a divided city, calling the Christians to be “ambassadors of reconciliation.” (II Corinthians 5) That call comes to us today. Ambassadors represent the one who sends them. We are called to represent the One who gave his life to bring healing and peace. May we answer His call today to bring His reconciliation to our battle-worn nation.

With you, striving to answer the Savior’s call,
Anita