Inspire a Generation

A sermon to celebrate the closing of the London 2012 Olympics preached  by Ray Anglesea at Howden le Wear and Frosterley Methodist Churches, 12 August 2012.


“Inspire a generation.” That was the slogan launched at Kew Gardens 100 days before the start of the 2012 London Olympics. It was a bid to encourage more young people into sport. The slogan was not just confined to the UK; it has been used to promote and encourage social change through some 20 countries involving some 12 million people under its International Inspiration programme. Lord Coe said "The slogan is the heartbeat, the very DNA of this organisation and a rallying cry for the athletes to come to the UK to perform at their very best and inspire the world."

Howden le Wear

Who will inspire the next generation of young people? – the Olympians perhaps.....Rocket Man Usain Bolt? Michael Phelps, the greatest of all Olympians, a human dolphin who can manipulate water like no human since Moses. The Mansfield Mermaid, Rebecca Addlington? Queen Victoria Pendelton? King of the Road side-burn superstar Bradley Wiggins, or Scotland’s greatest Olympian Sir Chris Hoy? Possibly Ennis, Farah and Rutherford who gave GB athletics its greatest Olympic hour on Super Saturday. Maybe the new British boy band of male gymnasts who stood on an Olympic podium with bronze medals around their necks and wonderment on their faces. What about Lizzie Armistead, the silver medallist of the women’s’ road race, from Otley United Reformed Church whose grandfather is a retired URC minister. I don’t know but Heather Stanning, Royal Artillery Offer and Helen Glover who stormed to victory in women's pairs rowing cheered on by Heather’s soldier friends in Afghanistan was truly inspirational. Perhaps it was the British Armed Services who at the end of the day, inspired us and were the real heroes of the Games after they filled in for a security company. I could go on with our British Olympians, suffice it to say that as Britain revelled in easy going-patriotism, the London Olympics has brought stories of sporting triumph, often against the odds, of gracious athletes and infectious good humoured welcoming volunteers in a spectacular parkland setting.

If the British Olympians have not inspired you then cast your minds back to the opening ceremony, a ceremony that was inspirational, adventurous, self-confident, playful, entertaining with a sense of history. The opening ceremony showed Britain at its best, for its care and compassion, inclusivity and diversity, flair and creativity, modesty and understatement, the confidence to be at ease with ourselves, our ability to question ourselves, our enjoyment of life. It was an astonishing technical feat that left so many unforgettable images. Who will forget the nostalgic rural idyll being torn apart, those industrial chimneys forcing their way out of the ground, the Wagner-like forging of the Olympic ring, or the Olympic cauldron being born out of fire? When church people think about the Transfiguration of our Lord, the gold feast that was celebrated last Monday they may be forgiven for still having in the back of their minds the theatrical tour de force that formed the first part of the opening ceremony.

But the young people were there too. In line with the Olympic slogan, an 11 year old disabled school boy from South London was selected to sing the first verse of Jerusalem, unaccompanied, immediately after the bell was sounded to launch the £27million greatest show on earth. There were children’s choirs from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; and then The Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf and Hearing Children performed in front of more than a billion people, to sing the national anthem as the Union Flag was raised. And then the finale, seven young athletes representing Britain's hopes for the future lit the Olympic cauldron at the end of opening ceremony. Inspiring a generation indeed!

For up and coming aspiring student architects, planners, transport engineers, landscape -architects The London 2012 Games provided inspiration for a once in a lifetime opportunity to regenerate the Lower Lea Valley, providing new homes, work space, schools, health and other community facilities - and of course world class sporting facilities. Prior to 2005 the Olympic Park site in east London was fragmented, polluted and divided by pylons and railways, a derelict industrial wasteland. Today the spectacular Olympic park contains world class permanent sporting venues and the Olympic village as well as 45 hectares of wildlife habitat. Local waterways and riverbanks have been cleaned and enhanced as part of the process.

For those students who wished to be inspired by more cultural endeavours, 'Hatwalk' - the brainchild of flamboyant mayor Boris Johnson provided just the trick - 21 of the city’s most famous statues donned hats designed by the best young milliners in town. The Royal College of Art students created the stylish Olympic medal bearers' costumes .Walk around the Olympic Park in years to come and you’ll find poems waiting for you. There’s Tennyson – some lines from “Ulysses”, ending with, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield” – as a reminder that our poets have already left quite a legacy, and whatever else happens to the place generations from now, there will be evidence that the Olympic Games of 2012 inspired some poets to leave their words for the future.

Frosterley

But for me the people who have inspirational were the torchbearers that carried the Olympic torch on an epic 8,000 mile trip around the British Isles; in ten weeks some 13 million people had cheered it on its jubilant, gilded way. The procession, the pilgrimage if you like was a triumph, an elation of human glory. It excitingly showcased the accomplishments of British people and brought communities together lifting the nation’s spirits at a time of economic di. 8000 runners took it through over 1000 villages, towns and cities, it travelled by 68 different forms of transport including plane, helicopter, narrow boat, canoe, punt, horse, ski lift, balloon and tube. But it was the spirit of the torchbearers not the mechanics of the relay that so impressed me. There were big names, celebrities galore, men and women of genuine sporting or artistic achievement; but there were also the extraordinary ordinary people, the legions of local heroes nominated by their community, inspiring teachers and coachers, champions of good causes, people who have refused to be broken by tragedies, injuries and disabilities. The torch in that way was colour blind and impervious to social strata. It went to wealthy suburbs and inner city ghettoes and everywhere the torch went astounding numbers of people greeted it; it was welcomed by orchestras, choirs, Morris-dancers, brass bands, bagpipes, hip hop artists and Indian drummers – it brought the whole nation together, it brought smiles and cheers and squeals of delight. Perhaps it was a Canterbury Tales for our age, a chronicle of the nation at a moment in its history.

Who will inspire the next generation? Think of you your own life, and the people in it. Who has inspired you the most? Who gives you the strength to work the hardest, to never give up on your dreams and to keep going? I can think of the people in my life who have inspired me and I am sure all of you have a list in your head, too. But there is one name that should inspire you the most: Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth, the pale Galilean, the young prince and son of a virgin, the itinerant field preacher whose story is told in the New Testament. Some 2000 years after his death the world still doesn’t seem to be finished with Jesus of Nazareth. What inspires us about Jesus? Not his theology, far less the behaviour of “Christian” sinners like us. It is the character of Jesus that inspires me.

The first century Jew from Galilee is without doubt the most famous and influential person who ever walked the face of the earth. Two billion people identify themselves as Christians. Jesus himself was an Asian; he became an infant refugee in Africa, lived all his life in an Eastern backwater of the Roman Empire. He was a person of simplicity and wisdom, so secure that his words and actions spoke to the very core of our being. He visited towns and farms and villages attracting thousands wherever he went. He had no time for religious pomp and amazed people by his unique ability to heal and provide for those who came to him but had no ambition of social and political reform. He clearly disappoints some followers by talking instead about a kingdom of God that is already breaking into our world. He comforts and heals in equal measure; he is authentic in a way that exposes any trace of hypocrisy or self importance. And yet in every place people crowded around – to hear and touch him, to meet an electrifying man and a message that buzzes with life. Jesus cuts through the nonsense and puts his fingers on what really matters. “Listen,” he says to his critics, “what really matters is not dotting the religious I’s and crossing the T’s but what come out of the human heart.” It’s true, He could be angry. He was capable of condemning. He even talked of Judgment. But it’s not for this that we remember Him. We remember a Man who loved a sex-worker for indecently wiping His feet with her loose hair. Who publicly befriended a fraudster worse than any recently discredited banker. He loved to the uttermost. Love was his cure. Not medicine, or science, or technology, not even the Olympic glory of sport. It is love for which this God is known above all, extending an invitation into His kingdom to a terrorist hanging by His side.

The world is moved by all sorts of motives – personal power, prestige, status, wealth, sporting success – but Jesus chose as his primary motive that of love. He even used a word not known in the ancient world. His word for ‘love’ was the deep caring and abiding concern for another person. It was an unselfish, positive, universal and creative care for another.

That love of God, expressed in our loving action towards our neighbour, was the motive behind all that Jesus did. This included caring for others whatever their need and accepting others whatever their background or race. Jesus strongly emphasized that a forgiving attitude towards others would be part of our loving concern for them. This is the essence of the radical alternative lifestyle of Jesus that is so attractive to young people. It is this legacy that endures. Jesus is a voice for the unemployed young people of our region, the counter culturalists and highly trained professionals.

We can inspire our young people by living by example. To try to live the way Jesus wants for us. We treat others with love and humility. We pray for them. They will see how we treat others and will be inspired to explore their own relationship with Jesus. To go back to the Olympic metaphor, it is not the winning so much as the keeping our eye on Jesus which is important, remembering that our faith is not first and foremost built on teachings or doctrines, rules and regulations but around a person, the person of Jesus. We run the race of life as we mentioned in our call to worship, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that our race, our journey and pilgrimage isn't for winners but rather for finishers.

Central to the London Games is a desire for its legacy to inspire, and one year on from last year’s summer riots, sport as the Olympic Games have shown can give a very different picture of what life can be about. During these last two weeks Team GB have inspired a new generation. As the Olympic flame begins its journey tonight from this country to Brazil, the 2012 Games will pass into legend from this great country of ours. It is already possible to sense, years hence, the recollection of those distant days of London 2012 when the trains ran and the sun shone and the city came alive and all those wonderful athletes ran and rowed and sailed and jumped and swam and rode and shot and tumbled their way into a golden history which we are unlikely ever to forget. It has been a fantastic experience. And for all that has happened in the last two weeks we give thanks to God.

Amen



Ray Anglesea is a self supporting minister working in St Andrew’s Dawson Street LEP, Crook and in the wider West Durham Methodist Circuit