“What an incredible kind of encouragement”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Hebrews 12:1-3 (Forward, p. 66) CEV p. 1268
At the onset, I have to admit that my running career was anything but auspicious. I suspect that I was probably trying to measure up to my father, who had once managed to make the Provincials in running. I too did make the Provincials, once, from the South East Alberta Zone—but then, only because the higher qualifier was barred from entering the race because he had already qualified in the maximum number of events and had to choose to quit the one event over the limit. And so, that meant, that as the next runner-up, I was in. However, I was pretty dismal, as I was stacked up against the best of the province, some of whom went on to try to qualify for the Olympics.
My rival, this superior runner, had a couple of things ‘going for him’. Number one is that he was a superb athlete who excelled in every sport he put his hand to. The other was that he had an absolutely gorgeous girlfriend, a real ‘stunner’, who always waited for him at the finish line and who immediately smothered him in hugs and kisses once he finished. I must say that none of the rest of us had any such reception, any such welcoming committee.
However, well this might not have been true race-wise for any of us, it certainly is true when it comes to the race that is our Christian life. Today’s passage tells us that we are ‘surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses’. Those are our personal cheering squad, our encouragers. And who might these be? They are those Christians who have gone before us and who, even now, are watching and waiting and cheering us on from their grandstand seats in heaven. They are those incredible heroes of faith that our author has just enumerated in chapter 11, but they are also our own personal ‘saints’, our loved ones who loved Jesus and have gone on ahead of us. They are part of that immense crowd that is even now looking on, cheering us on and encouraging us.
In light of that encouragement, our author gives us some words of advice. Firstly, we must rid ourselves of anything and everything that impedes us in the race, anything that gets in the way of running the race well, the race of life. Here he mentions our sin, which only goes to reason, as it has a way of clogging up our resolve and dogging our best efforts. But he also suggests that there might well be other things as well. The Authorized Version (King James Version) suggests that there might also be some ‘weights’ that get in the way. Here I’m thinking that there might well be some habits or priorities that, while not sinful in themselves, still have the effect of slowing us down or impeding our efforts. Here I think—in the actual physical act of racing, how many of us wore weights or bulky lose weight pants while training, but certainly discarded all of them when it came to race time. Frivolous pleasures perhaps, or dissipated energies or conflicting goals and agendas might well do the trick in our spiritual race and once again, it serves us well to also discard them.
And then, we are told that we must run our race, the race of life, with determination and resolve, with patience, firmly disciplined and dedicated to the one goal. And here our author mentions one last encouragement, the penultimate one. It is our Saviour, the author and finisher of our faith, the one who has set us on this race in the first place. He has been on this race before us—He has endured it, and more—and even now, stands at the finish line awaiting us and encouraging us. He suffered many pains and discouragements, far more than we will ever, and yet He kept at it and finished the course. And so, our author says, we should keep our eyes, our attention, on Him, as He is there for us, now and always. So, we are told, we should not give up or become discouraged, but press on to the very end, knowing who is there for us and who encourages us. Amen.
Forward notes: “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (verse 1a).
“As a priest, one of the most moving parts of Holy Eucharist is when I get to pray, ‘with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven.’ This is a time when chronos (our time) and kairos (God’s time) collapse. I can feel the presence of all the faithful people, spiritual ancestors who have gone before me and before those gathered in community. If I am wearing my late dad’s vestments, then I often feel his presence with me, as well. It is what the Celts would call a ‘thin place.’
“Native cultures honour elders, looking to them for guidance for living in balance with the Creator. Some churches have a service of Tenebrae (Latin for darkness) during Holy Week. I was scared of this service as a child because of the loud earthquake sound at the end. The church I
attended had a massive organ, and the floor would literally rumble. Yet the light was always brought back out. We were not left in the dark after all. In Jungian psychology, the shadow side is not bad, but it must be brought into the light. Our spiritual ancestors can help us do that.”
Moving Forward: “What do we want to pass down before we join that great cloud of witnesses?”