Earlier this summer I read a delightful book of reflections by Desmond Carroll, an Anglican priest (Irish by birth) in Canada's Arctic. The book also contains original painting-illustrations by Ted Harrison, a renowned Canadian artist. I'd like to share just a few of Carroll's words of wisdom:
"Let Us Run with Patience"
The race that is set before us ... (Hebrews 12:1)
One can only marvel at the physical capabilities of the athletes performing in the Olympics ... The discipline and sheer hard work that has gone into producing these efforts must be admired and is a reminder to all of us of the potential of the human body. St. Paul many years ago drew on the comparison of faith and athletic discipline, reflecting upon his own time and the affairs of that day that could encourage and give insight.
But there are dangers as we pay exclusive attention to the body and forget the spirit. The Christian faith is incarnational - that is, it seeks to integrate the physical and the spiritual. Too great an emphasis on either of these things can distort the true character of the message of the Good News. There is the cult of physical perfection that would seek to claim some sort of eternal quality, some kind of ideal, that can only be reached through athletic prowess. On the other side are those who would tend to despise the body (the physical) and forget that God made each one of us in his own image and of flesh and blood.
The incarnate nature of our faith begins to come into its own as we try to balance the physical and the spiritual. Each carries its own discipline, each can be supportive of the growth of the other, and each can lose its strength as it seeks to journey on its own.
Carroll, Northern Reflections (p. 91)
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