The recent Olympics in Rio have shown us great sporting highs and lows: the ecstacy of winning medals, when years of training, hard work, dedication and discipline seem to melt away in joy and the lows of missing medals, when it feels like nothing makes sense and all that hard work and dedication count for nothing.

‘Team GB’ has done exceptionally well in Rio, with veterans like Mo Farah retaining his gold-medal status in the 5000m and 10,000m and the Yorkshire Brownlee brothers claiming gold and silver in the triathlon.

‘Newcomers’ Jack Laugher and Chris Mears won GB’s first ever diving gold medal in the 3 metre synchronised springboard event. But for every triumph, there is disappointment for other competitors: Tom Daley failing to qualify for the 10m diving final, Jessica Ennis-Hill ‘only’ winning a silver medal in the heptathlon, for example. Sport highlights these ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ because of its focus on winners, which inevitably means there are also losers.

At the same time as the Olympics have been going on, ‘A’ level results came out this past week, with GCSE results due next Thursday. Thousands of teenagers feel that these results have the power to determine their immediate futures: which university they will go to, which course they will study, which job they will be able to pursue. For some, there is the ‘high’ of success; for others, there is the disappointment of ‘failure’ (though again, it is alarming to see how success and failure can be determined or defined.)

Maintaining perspective in the midst of all the highs and lows of life can be extremely difficult. We are conditioned to believe that hard work and determination will be rewarded by success: how, then, do we cope when we have given it our all and still not received the prize? How do we retain a sense of self-worth when we have not lived up to the standards we have set ourselves? How do we avoid arrogance and pride when we do achieve success?

1. We have to know that our identity is in Christ, not in our achievements, successes or failures. Rom 8:35-39 reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ. If Christ was willing to die for us while we were still sinners (i.e. still ‘failures’), we can be sure that no failure can ultimately destroy our identity. A healthy dependence on God also prevents us from arrogantly ascribing all success to our own intelligence, strength or determination.
2. Setbacks are able to refine and mature us. (James 1:2-4) Through the bitterness of disappointment, the pain of failure, the hurt of rejection and the confusion of loss, we can learn many lessons that success can’t teach us. Despair tells us that this is all there is, but it’s important to remember that God is the God of hope. (Rom 15:13) There are many avenues which would never have been even considered were it not for that initial failure. God is able to use every situation of life for our good. (Rom 8:28)
3. Our lives are in God’s hands. Life inevitably has mountain top experiences and valleys of despair. Keeping the long view is essential. Athletes have to do this all the time to persevere through the harsh realities of training, and keeping the long view is essential to running the race of life. (2 Cor 4:16-18) We may not receive the ‘prize’ we long for on earth, but God is preparing rewards for His children, an eternal glory which far outweighs the troubles of this life.

Wherever we are in life’s journey, we can rest secure in the fact that God loves us and is in control. (Ps 62:11-12) He is greater than our highs and lows!

To linger means ‘to stay in a place longer than is necessary because of a reluctance to leave.’ We usually linger in places we really like, wanting to spend more time there. Or we linger with people whose company we really enjoy because we just like being with them. Lingering is the very opposite of our normal day, which is tightly packed with schedules and ‘to do’ lists. Often, we feel like we move through the day with military precision simply to ‘get things done’, but so often, what we do is functional and leaves us dissatisfied and miserable. What we really crave is meaning, which often only emerges through seeing life at a more leisurely pace.

William Henry Davies wrote a poem called ‘Leisure’:

‘What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.’

The song ‘To Be In Your Presence’ talks of lingering in God’s presence (‘to sit at Your feet where Your love completes me, to rest in Your presence, not rushing away…’) Sometimes our times with God are rushed, hasty, perfunctory affairs: a quick prayer, a snatched Bible reading, as we gulp down our morning coffee, minds already wondering how we fill fit in everything else that day. Martha’s lifestyle is so much more the norm than Mary’s (Luke 10:38-42). Our days are filled with important tasks (and even the mundane tasks take time!), so the idea of ‘standing and staring’ seems positively criminal.

But lingering is critical to personal growth. Leisure is vital to balance and harmony, and time with God is far more than leisure. We need to carve out time to linger. The washing-up can wait. The exercise regime might have to find a new slot (‘physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.’ 1 Tim 4:8) Dinner might have to be served a little later than usual. God wants to spend time with us. It’s worth lingering a little longer with Him today than you usually do.

Like many people, I’ve marvelled at the feats of those participating in the Olympics and have particularly enjoyed British success. Max Whitlock‘s performance in the gymnastics, winning two gold medals and one bronze has been amazing (these were Britain’s first ever gold medals in artistic gymnastics in the Olympics, something the history books will always record!)

Simone Biles from the USA (all 4 feet 9 of her!) has also been astounding to watch. As someone who never managed to do a handstand or cartwheel properly even as a child, I’m in awe of gymnasts, whose flexibility, suppleness and strength make me wonder how it is physically possible for them to do the things they do!

All gymnasts learn the value of stretching from an early age. Stretching – straightening or extending one’s body to its full length – is a crucial part of maintaining and developing physical fitness; it gives an increased range of motion, helps to prevent injuries and is one of the best ways of keeping supple and fit. Animals do this naturally; I’m constantly amazed at how Thumper can either look fat when he is bunched up or sleek when stretched out (see below!)

God wants us to stretch our faith as regularly as gymnasts and athletes stretch their muscles or animals stretch out their bodies. Stretching our faith is not comfortable or easy, any more than physical stretching is easy. It requires determination and courage to keep pressing on in faith, just as these Olympians have had to persevere, train and forego many pleasurable things in keeping their eyes firmly fixed on Olympic gold. But God calls us to leave the safety of the shore and step out in faith. Kutless’ song ‘I Will Go’ captures the difficulties and rewards of this stepping out into the water. It’s the only way we will grow.

Stephen’s sermon on our lives being ‘works in progress’ got me thinking about unfinished music. The usual reason for a piece of music being unfinished is the death of the composer; thus Mozart’s ‘Requiem‘ was never completed because he died in 1791 before it was finished (somewhat ironically, some felt, since a requiem mass is usually played at someone’s funeral); Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ symphony (No. 8) has only 2 movements instead of the usual 4 (although in this case, the work was simply not completed, Schubert living another six years after he began work on it!)

In music itself, however, there are ‘endings’ which don’t really seem like endings. Music traditionally finishes with the IV V I cadence, the subdominant chord followed by the dominant chord which is then completed by the tonic chord, giving the music a sense of ‘home’, and thus completion. If a song ends on the dominant chord (V) instead, this is known as an ‘imperfect cadence’, because our ears expect another chord to give us a sense of ‘finish’:

‘Keep The Faith’ by Tim Hughes does not have a ‘finished’ ending. The chords ‘hang’, sounding incomplete.  The song talks about us keeping the faith and overcoming through God’s love and power, but I like to think it ends this way because, as Stephen reminded us, our lives are still works in progress. God hasn’t finished with us yet. He’s still writing the melodies and harmonies of our lives. He’s still working on us. One day, these tunes will be complete, but in the meantime,

‘Life is a song we must sing with our days
A poem with meaning more than words can say
A painting with colours no rainbow can tell
A lyric that rhymes either heaven or hell.’ (Michael Card, ‘The Poem of Your Life‘)

Stephen talked tonight about how we know when a job is well done. Do we define that as something difficult we did not want to do but can look back on with satisfaction when we have completed it? Or is a job well done something we have taken pleasure in? Do we feel that our belief in Christ constitutes a ‘job well done’ or are we are aware of the ongoing nature of this life in Him?

Acts 3:19 shows us the importance of repentance in our life with Christ. Repentance – turning back to God – is the start of our spiritual journey, but it’s easy to then sit back and rest on our laurels, thinking that once our sins are wiped out, there’s nothing more to be done. Repentance is not just a one-off event, however; it is an ongoing process. Luke 17:1-4 reminds us also of the key place that forgiveness places in our journey: we need to receive God’s forgiveness and then forgive others freely.

The fact that repentance is ongoing is seen through Jesus’ words to the church in Rev 3:3. We have to continually hold on to God, understanding that reluctant obedience is better ultimately than compliant disobedience (see Matt 21:28-31). God knows our hearts, so that nothing is hidden from His sight. We may think we can fool people as to how spiritual we are, but God sees everything and knows our thoughts and motivation.

Ultimately, we are all works in progress. This ‘work’, this job, will not be completed until God calls us home, but as we stand firm in Christ, offering our lives to Him as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1-2), we look forward to the completion of this work by God Himself (see Phil 1:6).

We had a birthday to celebrate this morning at Cherry Tree Court: