Something Big Is Going On
This Sunday morning, some 300,000 people will line the streets of Minneapolis and Saint Paul to take in the sights and sounds of the Twin Cities Marathon.
A portion of that 300,000 will find themselves standing on our street, right in front of our building … because our lawn offers a good view of the course … because it’s within walking distance of nearby restaurants … because it’s located on mile 23 of 26 — the final stretch before the finish line.
In short, on the Sunday morning of the marathon something unique happens that doesn’t happen during any other Sunday morning of the year — a crowd gathers at 1524 Summit for reasons other than the worship of Jesus.
The Surprise Behind Them
It will then, perhaps, come as a surprise to this crowd when among the cheers, applause, and buzz of the marathon, they also hear the name of Jesus proclaimed behind them. In the early hours of the morning, it’ll be the lyrics of Jesus’s goodness and glory sung by the band as they rehearse. Come 10 am, it’ll be the call to worship and the sound of hundreds of voices responding, “Let us exalt his name together!” After singing, the sobered tones of the exhortation will become audible, followed by the deafening, culture-shocking silence of confession. Then, perhaps most surprising of all, will come the proclamation that God is faithful and just to forgive repentant sinners, to which the community of repentant sinners will rejoin, “Thanks be to God!”
For some in the crowd outside, it may be a message they know and love. For others, it may be one they’ve grown to despise. For still others, it’ll sound like a foreign language — one that though unfamiliar, is simultaneously both intriguing and attractive. It’s these latter two groups that may find themselves in quite an interesting position. Here they are at a marathon watching men and women strive toward a goal set before them — a rest they’re longing to enter. Here they are seeing how a community of encouragers can spur others onward who’d otherwise have given up long before. Here they are watching a people who believe, and are convinced, that victory lies before them even though they can’t yet see it with their eyes. Here they are, in other words, experiencing an event that some may idolize a picture, a hint, of something far better.
Bigger Than the World
What, after all, are people really pursuing whenever they take in or take on anything of size or significance — be it a marathon, a mountain, or a momentous occasion? Quite simply, they’re looking for something bigger than themselves. In fact, not only bigger than themselves but, in truth, bigger than the world. See, people cannot help but hunger for the weighty, the colossal, and the significant, because it is what our hearts have been made for.
But the problem is that our world can only ever trace a shadow of it with its races and games. It can only ever mirror the shape of it with its battles and victories. Inevitably, these things will all fall short of what we’re truly longing for because they’re limited — a mountain has a limit, as does a marathon, but the human heart thirsts for what is without limits.
Come Early This Sunday
As Christians, we have found that limitless one whose name is Jesus, and we have been brought, by faith, into new and everlasting life with him. A life of significance. A life of purpose. A life built upon the greatest victory the world has ever known. But for non-Christians, the search is still on. The lasting significance has yet to be found. Weightiness beyond our world’s capacity is still, for them, a mystery. But, it need not be for long….
This Sunday I want to encourage you to come early for the marathon and to be eager and ready to share with those around you the Jesus whom you have found. Tell them of what Jesus has done for you. What he has promised to you. How he has filled your heart in ways that nothing else in this world can. And pray that the Lord would work in such a way that many who merely chose our street because of its convenient location will end up referring to our street as the place where they met God for the very first time.
See you, early, this Sunday!