Running the Race

This slightly extended (and late) issue of Microsynaxis concludes the Giving Tuesday “Running for Renewal” campaign. The four pieces below barely scratch the surface of the content I have on running and faith. (I have eight meditations, eight essays, and sixteen quotes, and am toying with the idea of converting the material into a book.)

Check out the material below and please do consider contributing to the campaign, which closes at midnight tonight.

Memberships are still discounted: $88 for Friend, $440 for Patron, and $880 for Pillar. In addition to the normal perks, you’ll also receive a two-day pass to the Symposium, the inaugural issue of The Christian News-Letter, and a pound of the Eighth Day Winter Blend coffee. And if you live in or near Wichita, you’ll be able to attend the members only Nativity Feast.

Click here for registration and more information about the Nativity Feast.

Click here for registration and more information about the Symposium.

Now dig in. And may it renew your soul so you can help renew your city and our culture!

In Christ,
Erin “John” Doom
Founder & Director, Eighth Day Institute
 

1. Bible: Hebrews 12:1-11
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. ⁴ You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
  ⁶ For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”

⁷ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? ⁸ But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. ¹¹ Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

2. Essays et al: "Let Us Run with Patience the Race That Is Set Before Us" by Mark Mosley
Dr. Mosley was my first running buddy back in 2019. He has always had to run much slower with me, but he was patient enough to join me for my first half marathon and my first full marathon. And he joined me for 7.34 of the 88 miles I recently ran. I love his writing and in between laps at the backyard ultrathon I asked him to write a reflection on running. Within a day or two, he sent me this great piece. Here’s a sample from the middle of his reflection:

I have chosen five elements of the Olympic race which are essential features to illustrate the life of salvation in Christ:

1) You will suffer. The race is a difficult struggle.

2) You are not guaranteed a victory. You must finish the race well. (You will not find support for “once saved, always saved” in this illustration.)

3) You must maintain hope in order to endure with patience. You must run with intensity while running relaxed. Keep your eyes ahead of you (and your mind above you) while letting your body move in a way for which it has been properly trained.

4) Part of the trust and hope comes from knowing the set path that you are running. This is a race set before us. While the specifics of the race may be unknown, the course and the goal are not created on the fly by the participant. You know what you are in for with the set path.

5) The “sin” of running is not running with pain and injury (this is expected and even anticipated for the athlete). Neither is the failure of the race due to not training as well as you should have (however ill-advised that may be). Rather the “sin” that leads to death is about how you ran the race— were you “running off course?”; did you “miss the mark?”; and did you “make your own way?” “The way” is not about your running form, or infractions of the race—it is staying on the right path till the finish line. The crown of victory is placed and the good news of the Son of God is spread throughout the kingdom only when the athlete crosses the finish line with the words, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

Read the whole thing here.

3. Essays et al: "A Theology of Everything" by Chris Kettler and "Why I Run: Eight Theses Toward a Theology of Running" by Erin Doom
I also asked my friend Chris Kettler to write a short, two-paragraph meditation on why there should be a “theology of everything.” You can read his response here.

As a preliminary stab at thinking about a theology of running, I’ve put together eight brief theses. You can read them here.