Summer/Fall 1996

AN SCP REPORT

Running to Win

Tal Brooke, President of SCP

Greetings from Berkeley.

The Olympics are among those bigger-than-life events that take the nation by storm during their two week reign. And the recent summer games have been even more dazzling than usual (and yes, the opening and closing ceremonies predictably celebrated the push towards global spirituality, Gaia and human potential). But let's talk about the athletic ideal for a moment, the real reason people watch the Olympics.

If the Olympics are to inspire us in any way, it is the earthly ideal of achieving excellence through the "Olympian" virtues of sacrifice and hard work wedded to great talent and natural ability. In this arena we see the telescoping of the lessons of life, producing either a win or a loss instantly. An athlete who has an injury, falls, is late at the starting block, or just does not have the training or natural ability, is eliminated quickly. It is the few, the dedicated, the unusually gifted, with everything working, who reach their absolute peak under pressure, who win. They have survived a titanic obstacle course.

Victories come at a price. Pleasures are delayed through years of endurance, self-control, and suffering for future rewards--a gold medal, a world record, fame. The contestant is pushed to the upper limits of ability for this goal--and this is where there is a strong resemblance between the athlete and the persevering Christian disciple, the citizen of heaven living under the constraints of an earthly kingdom. It is also where the resemblance ends. One reward is fleeting, the other eternal.

For the future Olympian, a gold medal is years away if it ever comes at all. Few Olympians, among the few who qualify, ever get to the final rounds before they are eliminated into obscurity. Most walk away or kneel in the sand, or go off to a corner, tears running down the occasional face for an event that is over. The clock cannot be turned back. The reward has passed. It had no certainty, no guarantee. What took literal years, ended in minutes. Only one champion, out of all the nations in the world, becomes the victor. Yet for the disciple, the reward is certain, because it is a gift of grace. There is also more than one victor.

The sacrifice and commitment of the Olympic athlete has often been the ideal of the Christian who is just starting out on the long road of discipleship. The Academy Award winning film Chariots of Fire perfectly illustrates this ideal. Along with glimpses of Eric Liddell the Christian--evangelizing onlookers in the rain who just saw him win a race--we also saw Eric Liddell the Olympian, aligning virtues from both worlds side by side. The drama culminated in the backdrop of the Paris Olympics in the 1920's. Liddell threw away a lifetime's effort because of his religious conviction. He refused to run the final race on Sunday. Then, rich with biblical parallels, he got it all back -- a second chance to run. It was the supreme example of putting the cost of discipleship above all else. And in the end, he was rewarded with a gold medal. He did not get a State funeral like Abrams his competitor but went off to China to be a missionary with the China Inland Mission. After winning the earthly contest, he went to pursue the greater ideal of true discipleship under the dominion of an Eternal King. We would have to look far and wide to find a life that rose to greater heroic heights than the life of Eric Liddell. The China Inland Mission, where he gave his life, paved the way for the great underground revival of China, and has since spread from there (Sitting behind me in the other room is an SCP intern, a Chinese Christian, who graduated from Berkeley with a degree in chemistry who now wants to go into the ministry. Somewhere in time, Liddell's obedience added to this ripple effect.).

I always think of Paul's words of encouragement, that in our discipleship and life before God, we should be like the athletes competing for the greater prize by "buffeting our bodies" to win the race. These words assure us that it will not be easy. It means there will be snares and disqualifying temptations all the way. The challenge is to be as dedicated as earthly athletes preparing for the Olympics. But when Christianity becomes a passive spectator sport, these ideals seem distant and unreal. We end up envying the vitality of those from other eras while fearing the sheer hardship they had to endure to reach their eternal wreath of victory over the hay and stubble of mediocrity and compromise. Such examples should fuel us in our smaller endeavors, so that we might not despise them but be faithful.

And what of our own efforts in the local arena? Well, the SOS San Francisco city-wide evangelism rally to which I spoke in late June was an exciting challenge, though we noticed a smaller turnout than previous years. I was supposed to speak at an outdoor rally at Union Square but unfortunately the city refused to grant the permit at the last minute. Instead, I spoke to those who had come for the week long street evangelism campaign put on by SOS Ministries. I hope I was useful in the role of coach, passing the torch to those who would rally in the streets. A number of us from SCP participated in the event.

Normally I do not get nervous before audiences, regardless of size --that is, if I am an invited guest. Yet I am both eager and fearful when it comes to speaking to crowds in public when I am intruding on their turf, uninvited, especially in San Francisco. The impact shows in people's eyes and reactions, which make an unforgiving judge of one's efforts. Feedback is immediate and often unflattering. Above that, you often never know whether you succeeded or failed. This is one of those few examples of when discipleship can become quite costly.

At any rate when my talk ended, the troops went out into the streets, to cafes, the wharf, the Marina, Nob Hill, and Union Square. I kept thinking, they went like sheep before wolves, like troops into battle, a thankless and painful job. And most of them were from the lower strata of society and had the marks of hard lives. They came from Lodi, Stockton, Sacramento, Chico and other points along California's central valley. Doubtless, some came from Oregon, Nevada, or Arizona. And I thought how God must surely honor in a special way the few who evangelize the city streets, especially in this region.

In the meantime, we continue to push ahead in our effort to take on the most relevant and immediate cultural and spiritual trends that show potential for cultural change or that might otherwise snare the unwary. Keep us in prayer and think of us in the battle. And as always, we thank you for helping to make this possible by your gifts and prayers.

Yours in gratitude,

Tal Brooke
President/Chariman SCP Inc.

P.S. Keep an eye out for our up and coming Journal series, Jesus and The Den of Thieves, that deals with the Jesus Seminar--featured on the covers of Time and Newsweek last Spring and given extensive coverage--plus other recent spins.