Bonjour ! That’s French for “Hello!” I’m in France, you see, for what my family call “annual holiday” and I call “watching the Tour de France”. Yes, as this paper lands on your doormats, or this article is posted online, I shall be over the water, trying to rest, refresh and cheer on my favourite team.
My friends would tell you how much I love the Tour. It’s become an annual excursion. Even if you don’t like cycling or appreciate the experience, it seems to me that there are some clear parallels with the Christian life. And I don’t need much of an excuse to expound the event I love whilst also reflecting on some deeper Bible themes.
It’s a team sport
You’d be forgiven for thinking Le Tour is all about the winner’s yellow jersey – the maillot jaune. But the Tour is very definitely a team sport. Each team has eight riders, a total start list of 184 cyclists. Of course, winners always say what a “super” job the team have done. And it’s true. These days you cannot win on your own. It’s too hard: this year the finishers will have raced 3,333 km and climbed 54,450 metres. For sure, the first over the line does win the coveted prize. But he knows – and we know – that he can’t make it on his own. Sometimes riders fall away: illness or injury. And then you see the way that the star performer struggles. He needs his teammates. Christians are individuals. Individually saved. Individually adopted. Individually brought home to our glorious future. But we’re not alone. And we need one another. There’s too much distance and too many hills to climb to do so on our own. Fellowship, friendship and community are key to our making it over the line. We neglect them at our peril.
To whom can you offer real sacrificial care?
David McNeil’s obituary made me cry. I am not ashamed to admit it. Some of my friends perhaps think I …