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Eye on the World: the spiritual promise of the Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, hosted in London, kicked off on Friday with an opening ceremony that included a pastoral turned industrial British landscape, heroes and villains from children’s literature, and Olympic rings that rained down fireworks. Highlights from the first two days of the games included an amazing diving performance from Chinese teammates Wu Minxia and He Zi, and a gold-medal performance from American swimmer Ryan Lochte. Kim Rhode also made history when she won a gold medal in skeet shooting, becoming the first American to win a medal in an individual event in five straight Olympic games.
The Olympic Games aren’t just an athletic competition – they’re a chance for the world to celebrate qualities like grace, power, focus, and determination. These qualities have their root in God, who animates and blesses His creation.
In “Spiritual participation in the Olympics,” Tony Lobl, a London-based Christian Science practitioner, explores how each of us can be a witness for God’s plan of good for the events. Our prayers support athletes’ best performances, bring good sportsmanship and teamwork to the surface, and act as a barrier against dishonest competition (including illegal performance drug use), violence, and terrorism. Tony also expanded on these ideas in a recent audio chat called “How you can participate in the Olympics – with prayer.”
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