The Olympic Rings

The Olympic Rings made their debut in 1913.  They are five interconnected, equal-size rings in the colors of blue, yellow, black, green, and red.  They symbolized the peoples of five continents working together celebrating sport.  What a wonderful image.

It’s also an image of the world that is in favor with God’s desire for God’s Beloveds – a world of equality, of cooperation, of justice, of joy, of achievement, of realizing possibilities.

I hope the Olympics continue (and no, I haven’t heard any rumors otherwise).  And yes, it is a colossal expenditure of money that could possibly be used more productively.  But we all know that money wouldn’t be used to feed the hungry or house the homeless.  And yes, the advertising budget for presenting items for us to purchase is out of control.  All that said, we need this reminder because we can’t seem to internalize the message.

Even with the Olympic Rings visible, we get caught up in who is winning the gold, silver and bronze instead of the excellence of training and performance.  We want our local athletes, or our country’s athletes, to take all the gold and show the superiority of our nation.

Those five, interconnected equal-sized rings are there reminding us to look at the whole picture.  Look at those who competed but did not medal.  (The amount of effort to even get to the Olympics is Herculean – pardon the pun.)

We can think of our faith as we see those rings and watch the games.  We are all God’s Beloveds – all of us – all around the world.  We are children of God made in God’s own image and loved.  Remember the words of the Apostle Paul in I Timothy:  I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness.

May this secular celebration be a window to our faith and a witness to possibilities.