When all things have been given to you as a gift – your creation, talent, desires, salvation and so forth… – the only fitting response is to say Thank You. But a simple verbal acknowledgment will not do for such a great gift, for what we are really talking about here is the very the gift of our own life. So the thanksgiving that we seek to offer is with our entire being. Therefore, we offer ourselves – soul and body – back to God (Roman 12:1), and in so doing we truly become who we are meant to be. The Christian athlete makes this offering by seeking to become the best s/he can be at their given sport. What’s important here is the “how” of this offering.
For the offering to be “holy and pleasing to God” it is to be offered in faith. I use the term “faith” here as a catch-all phrase, for in “faith” we offer in belief, trust, obedience, love and hope. “Faith” is the “how” of our offering. It is man’s essential “M.O.” (modus operandi) – the righteous shall live by faith. Our vocation as a “human being” is/was simply to offer back to God that which he had given to us and in so doing transform all of life into communion with God. “Faith” enables man live into this vocation.
We are intended to live the life of “thanksgiving”. The Greek word for thanksgiving is “eucharist”. Many of the early church fathers described us as “eucharistic beings”. Which is to say, that our very fulfillment, our purpose, as “man” consist in this thanksgiving (eucharistic) offering to God. Schmemann put it this way, “we know that real life is ‘eucharist’, a movement of love and adoration toward God, the movement in which alone the meaning and the value of all that exist can be revealed and fulfilled.” Again, the problem is/was that we failed to be the “eucharist’ being God made us to be, rather than offering back to God that which he had given to us we just consumed it and used it solely to our own ends. But in Christ, the eucharist life that was once lost has been restored. He lived the perfect life of thanksgiving, offering back to God in love that which God gave to Him. Through “faith” we become participants in His offering. You see, “faith” makes possible our ability to become once again eucharistic beings – individuals that offer back to God all that God has given to us and in so doing transform all of life into life in God.
Faith is the essential “how” in offering the world and ourselves to God. Christ’s offering is the only acceptable offering; all others fall short in obedience and love. This is why it is not the “why” that ultimately matters, but the “how”! Our motives are not perfect, they are mixed and inept – sinful. Alone our offering is ever and always insufficient. Through faith we offer not merely ourselves, but Christ, for he has offered “all that is to be offered” to God. Here, our offering becomes joined to His all-sufficient one and is made “holy and pleasing” unto God.
The truth, or reality, is that that when we seek to “play for Him” we have that lingering tendency to play for ourselves. When we seek to remember Him, we more times than not find ourselves forgetting Him. When we think we have given Him our best, we discover we actually have more to offer. St. Paul described it this way “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out … Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7: 15,18, 24, 25). Pure motives elude us, thus the need for Jesus Christ. An essential ingredient of faith is “humble reliance”. Kierkegaard once summed it up in this fashion, in relation to God we always find ourselves in the wrong. Faith simultaneously seeks to offer our best, that is, it seeks to offer God lives of perfect obedience and pure love, all the while knowing that we are truly unable to do that. Nevertheless, we must never rest in this inability –our sinfulness- where we take God’s forgiveness for granted; no, we must continually seek with all our might to live that sinless life before God. Here, “faith” may best be described as “striving in humble admission.” For instance, we seek (strive) to love another with the love of God in full recognition (humble admission) that we cannot love the other with the love God, so in acknowledging our inability we rest in God’s forgiveness and seek His grace to help our love toward the other be experienced as God’s love (we rely upon grace, in our reliance upon grace). So the opposite of sin then is not virtue, as we so often want to tend towards, rather the opposite of sin is faith.
So the Christian athlete, through faith offers up to God all it takes to become the best s/he can be at their sport as a response to the gifts of God experienced in Christ Jesus. In so doing, that which is offered – the sacrifice, preparation, practice and play – becomes, to use Hippoltus’ (187-197 AD) term, “eucharistized”, that is, made a gift that is holy and pleasing to God. In exchange for these gifts – sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving – God gives the gift of Himself. In this way, or shall I say, through this faith offering, the “things” of earth are transformed into life in God, communion with God.
This is why it is not the “why” that ultimately matters, but the “how”!
The “why” matters in that it points to motive…motivation. Using the image of, say, a sword and assuming there is some sort of authentic power inherent in every gift ….easily observed and recognized in athletic gifts, then my practice disciplines both “forge” the steel and train the arm to wield. But what fuel is my passion burning as I constantly place my gift in its heat? What drives the muscle of my arm both to hammer upon the anvil and then wield power with skill? As you say, one starting point is simply an acceptance of the term “gift” when applied to your life in general and to athletic capacities in particular. I have “it” because someone Else gave “it.” If they didn’t give it, I wouldn’t have it. So (again, as you say) “thank you” is the life breath of the Christian whose eyes are opened to see one’s life and all particular abilities within it as “gift.” The vision of Christian life is a passionate “thank you.” Indeed is it not within the “thank you” that we meet God most intimately? This is where you are going with “eucharist”, right? We “give” only because we have first been given something to give. To place our “gift” on the altar, as it were, is a giving back with a “thank you” attached. Yes? This is the “why”. This is the motive that faith transforms over time…time after time….offering after offering, sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving time and again.
In exchange for these gifts – sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving – God gives the gift of Himself. In this way, or shall I say, through this faith offering, the “things” of earth are transformed into life in God, communion with God.
I like the word “through” better than the phrase “in exchange for” because the latter can tempt the mind to think quid pro quo….if this then that. The rhythm of eucharistic worship is the intentional action of taking “gift” and, as a steward of gift, offering back to the Giver whatever it is you’ve made of that gift at the moment. (Parables of the steward.) This is offered “in faith.” And, indeed, the wonderful mystery of the rhythm of life as “eucharist” is that it seems God in faith teaches us to see life and all particular abilities attached as a vessel….a vessel to be place on the altar SO THAT God can pour his own life into it for us. Gift is vessel….a vessel to receive life in it’s fullest sense….which is always about a quality of shared relationship, the “fullness of Life” being communion (shared life) with God.
This is why it is not the “why” that ultimately matters, but the “how”!
Now, if I’m following your rightly, it’s time to return to an understanding that it is not the “why” but the “how” that…ultimately …matters.
In faith my “why” is transformed. This means that my transformation rests upon, is founded upon, is dependant upon faith. But, as I think you are saying, the lively activity of faith constantly couples transformation with illumination. Meaning, the more I see what God’s grace is leading and empowering me to become the more I also “see” who I ain’t yet or who I am and shouldn’t be! What am I to do with my impure motives? How can I place such a “mixed bag” on the altar? The “wheat” of my thank you is mixed in with the “tares” of “mine, mine, mine, me, me, me.” Indeed, Romans 7:15, etc. ! Therefore,…
An essential ingredient of faith is “humble reliance”.
Couldn’t agree more. Humility married to the grace of God is the secret to peace. It is only through Christ and the “grace” (which is the gift of Himself for this very purpose) that I can place my “gift” (just as “it is” or just as “I am”) on the altar. The giving of my gift….my sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving….I cannot hand directly to God. It must first be put upon the altar of Christ. It is His sacrifice that accepts my own and transforms it into something wholly acceptable. I am utterly dependant upon this entrustment. This, then, pictures the ultimate and foundational position of faith in the living of the eucharistic life. A life of “thank you” is one that releases joy as the primary fuel for living. But my “thank you” cannot reach the altar unless it “stands upon the back of Jesus”…unless it stands upon a humble faith in the Grace of Christ and my own need to rely upon it (and, therefore, Him).
For the athlete given great gifts combined with great passion you give us, John, a great picture of the understanding of sport as something capable of becoming a vessel of something that is truly fulfilling and that “moth and rust” of time won’t consume.
Thanks for the opportunity to do some reflecting with you. I hope others will read, ponder, ask, and respond to your posts.
Thanks for these thoughts, and helping to clarify. Exactly, the “how” transforms and illumines our “why”…we grow more and more into who we are meant to be, lovers of God and fellow man. One of the keys here is to learn not to “waller” in our “mixed bag” of motives, for this is just another form of pride rearing its self-sufficient head, rather we must learn to “rest” in His Grace and strive towards that mark; no matter if some of us always run a little slower than others, run, I say, run. May God help us to understand and live that life of ‘thank you’ (eucharist) where that “joy” is continually released (great line). What amazes and excites me is that this “Life” can experienced though just about any and every arena of life.