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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rev Guy Goodall

Good morning

A hundred years ago people flocked to Paris to see the world’s best. Among those Olympians were Johnny Weissmuller – later to become Tarzan, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell. Fans of sport worldwide are in the city again this year with the same hopes, I wonder whose names will remembered in 2124.

We call them the ‘modern games’, but their origins go back to the 8th century BC, to Mount Olympus in Ancient Greece. If we had access to time travel we would recognise a number of those sports: track and field, boxing, wrestling. There were also strict rules to protect both the integrity of the games and the safety of the athletes.

But there was a dimension sometimes overlooked in our day, for these games had a spiritual dimension. They were held in honour of the god, Zeus. Part of that was seen in the demand that all acts of war were to cease for the duration of the games. These original games were of peace.

As I dip my toes into the historical waters, I discover so many things in life that haven’t changed. We may tinker with the detailed rules and regulations from time to time, but surely here is an example that should be resurrected at the earliest opportunity.

Once again, Lord, we have seen just how much disciplined athletes can achieve. How much more could be achieved if we reached the golden goal of global peace.

Amen