Running the race (short sermon)

The winter season has begun on Iona: the volunteers have left, and we no longer have guests coming every week. Also, our morning services begin a half hour later, at 9:30, and we have only three evening services: the quiet service on Sundays, the service of prayer for healing on Tuesdays, and the Holy Communion or Agape service on Thursdays, and these begin earlier in the evening, at 7:30. For now, it is a time of breathing, of slowing down.

A few Fridays ago, when we still had Friday evening services, I led a service based on a passage in the book of Hebrews about running the race God has prepared for us. Below is my reflection on the scripture passage, followed by a closing blessing.

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What race are you running? What does the course set before you look like?

Some of you may be visiting Iona from far away and are here on a pilgrimage, seeking God, your soul yearning to find peace and life. Like a race, your journey to this island involved preparation and stamina, as you needed to plan for and endure the long train, bus, and ferry rides. Here at the Iona Centres we lead pilgrimages every Tuesday in which we guide pilgrims to various places on the island, reflecting on God through the history and landscape of Iona. Like a race, our pilgrimages require preparation. You need to make sure you have sturdy footwear and waterproof clothing. You need to be fit to endure the walks over rugged terrain for several miles.

Some of you are staff members working for the Iona Community. Working here can feel like a race. Just as runners need to train and pace themselves, it takes endurance to do our jobs well over a stretch of time.

Or maybe you are running a race in a different way. Maybe you are working on a project that will take a long time to complete. Maybe you are a parent and find that raising children is your main focus in this stage of your life.

What race are you running? What does the path before you look like?

Everyone who follows Christ is running a spiritual race. Being a Christian means being on a pilgrimage. As we travel, as we open ourselves to God, with God’s help we become more Christlike. This is the goal of our faith.

How might the road or roads you are on help you to live more deeply in God? How are you growing in Christ’s image?

Listen again to the scripture, for it is for all of us who find ourselves on a journey: “Let us lay aside every weight and the sin 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, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.”

We can finish our race of growing in God, we can arrive at our destination, we can fulfill the work God has begun in us because Jesus finished his race. He suffered death, though he had done no wrong. Through his trial he trusted God and put himself into God’s hands. Because of that, God raised him from the dead and used his cruel death as the means to bless all people, to overcome death and overturn evil.

If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we can learn how to run our own races well. Every pilgrimage needs a guide, and Jesus is our guide. He has journeyed through all of life’s paths and so he fully knows our own. We can trust that he will help us on our own journey so that we can run and finish our races well.

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May God make clear the path before us
May we know the presence of Jesus beside us

And may the Holy Spirit fill us with a second wind

That we may finish well the race God has prepared for us.

Amen.