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.
Yet everyone is different
The teams are a fascinating blend of varied skills. Not only are some riders suited to some terrains, but many have very specific skills. Some are there not to win, but to support. They are not frontline racers, but those who will drag others up hills, protect the main man from crosswinds, or fetch water and food from the team cars. They are known as domestiques. They willingly put themselves on the line so that someone else can prosper.
A friend’s daughter fulfils this role for one of the women’s professional teams (Go, Flora!). She has the added responsibility of being the road captain – organising tactics and team members on the fly. Excelling in that is what she’s paid to do.
It’s a paradigm of the Christian church. Not everyone is equally or similarly gifted. Not everyone is a preacher; not everyone knows how to make the sound work or fire up the ancient boiler. Some people have what the world might consider unglamorous tasks. Others are rarely seen. But each has significant value. Each has worth. Each is needed.
Get ready
Preparation is essential. In the first editions of the Tour, gifted amateurs did just that. They stopped off at cafés during the race for a beer and sandwich. But not one of these hardy pioneers would make it up the mountains today’s riders climb.
Nowadays, there are enormous organisations supporting the athletes and working with them on fitness, mental health, diet and so on. No one will win without it. In fact, no one would make it to the end without such help. As Paul says: “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.”
The apostle uses this illustration to make a point about self-discipline. The support structure each rider receives is key, but ultimately it is about the individual deciding to follow the path: to be careful with diet; to regularly train; to get good sleep.
So it is for the Christian. We can have (and should have) all kinds of good support structures in place. We should know what to do to be ready. But at the end of the day, each has to make a conscious decision to do so. Thankfully, we don’t have to do that in our own strength. The Holy Spirit gives us that internal inclination; and so walking in step with Him and enjoying His power at work in us is, in some ways, the Christian discipline.
Go for the prize
The very last stage of the Tour de France is always held in Paris, racing up and down the cobbles of the Champs-Élysées. As dusk falls, the overall winner is crowned on a podium with the Arc de Triomphe providing an iconic backdrop. Finally, there is glory!
To get there, the overall winner has really had to slog. Even the fittest, finest rider has had to grind up hills, avoid crashes and navigate hair-raising descents at speeds up to 110 km/h. Over three gruelling weeks they have poured everything into this moment.
The Christian life has wonderful joys, beautiful life-enhancing moments and smiles along the way. But it also sometimes feel like we’re grinding through the gears on a 16% incline. Or things can feel so out of control that it feels like we’re hurtling down a steep hill with only a small brake to hold us on the line.
Yet it is all worth it. There is a more beautiful setting than a balmy July evening in Paris. There is a more wonderful prize than the famous jersey. And no celebrity prize giver. Instead “there is a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
To whom can you offer real sacrificial care?
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