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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion February 25, 2006 Chariots of Fire |
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FRONTLINE DEVOTION FOR SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2006 by Fritz Foltz
Ask my wife her favorite movie and with no hesitation she will reply, “Chariots of Fire” Although the film showed 25 years ago, we still see that famous scene where the 1924 Olympic runners from Cambridge run through the surf. The story focuses on two of those runners, Eric Liddell, a Christian who ran for the glory of God and Harold Abrahams, a Jew fighting anti-Semitism.
One of the unforgettable scenes had Liddell refusing to compete in his best race, because the qualifying heat was being held on the Sabbath. Most of the people around him found it hard to believe he would place religious obligation before personal glory or national pride. It says something about how far we have come that our world seventy-five years later would consider his stand the selfish act of a fanatic.
I often wondered what ever happened to Liddell, believing his place in the spotlight probably ended with the Olympics. Chances were he was a religious nut who could also run.
I found out how wrong I was years later when reading Langdon Gilkey’s Shantung Compound, the account of a Japanese concentration camp in China. Gilkey reports that Liddell, a respected Christian missionary, died there. He lauds his witness when lesser people gave up their values in the harshness of the camp. Liddell worked with youth and served as an inspirational role model for all to his last breath.
The movie ends with the funeral of Abrahams in 1978 as the choir sings the wonderful Jerusalem, a traditional hymn that remembers God’s coming on a chariot of fire to take Elijah, his illustrious prophet, to heaven. Elijah was so outstanding that after death he did not go to Sheol like everyone else, but instead shared heaven with God himself. Later Moses’ followers claimed surely he also must have received such an honor. This led to the belief that these two would return someday to announce the Kingdom of God. So John the Baptist is called Elijah; so they both appear to glorify Jesus at the Transfiguration.
The singing of the magnificent hymn at Abrahams’ funeral implies he also deserved a hero’s welcome after death. Of course, the film wants us to see everyone on the team was a hero deserving God’s praise for a life well lived.
Liddell certainly is a model for us all as we try to follow Jesus. Chances are you’ll have a chance today to take a stand for Christ. It might be the elderly showing long term unconditional love is possible and beautiful, the middle aged demonstrating insistence on justice is necessary and beneficial, or the young witnessing care for the weak and needy is loving and kind. Many in our world try hard to show there are no more heroes. Christ calls us to prove them wrong.
Let us pray: Grant us all the courage to stand for our values, Father, so our living shall not be in vain and when we end our time in this life others speak of how we have inspired them. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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