Unless you are living under a rock, then you know that the summer of 2024 has brought with it the Summer Olympic Games from Paris, France.

Officially known as the “Games of the XXXIII Olympiad,” the global event has brought together more than 10,500 athletes from 203 National Olympic Committees (countries and territories) to compete across 32 sports in 329 events all occurring in roughly sixteen days.

It is quite a logistical spectacle and takes years of planning to prepare for its successful execution.

Sadly, I have never been to an Olympic Games, (although it is very high on my bucket list and I am strongly considering making a venture out to Los Angeles in 2028), I have been to the site of where the first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece.

I was on an academic study tour with colleagues from Campbell University Divinity School exploring the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul in the summer of 2014.

While in Athens, a portion of our traveling party took the opportunity to visit the historic Panathenaic Stadium, the site where the first games of the modern Olympics were held in 1896. It is amazing to have seen the humble beginnings of the Olympics, and look how they have grown to become the large spectacle they are today.

As a very active person with a heavy athletic background, I have always been fascinated by the Olympic games. My earliest significant memories of following events around the Olympics would be those of the 1996 games in nearby Atlanta.

Of course, I love the athletic competitions, the record-breaking antics, and the feats of international proportion that are the things movies are made of (i.e. “The Miracle on Ice” or the “Dream Team”). Yet, what I think I enjoy even more about the Olympics are the stories of these amazing competitors we get introduced to over the course of the 16 days of competition.

Many of the athletes are involved in competitions that don’t normally fall under the spotlight of our daily headlines with unique-to-us events like artistic swimming, futsal, or the components of the modern pentathlon. Many of them have overcome various adversities to reach what for many, is the pinnacle of their respective sports.

While I love their stories, I also enjoy seeing the camaraderie shared by many of the athletes. The Games provide revealing looks into the character of many of these athletes. There are frequent video shots of athletes from differing countries congratulating their competitors for a job well done, contests where the final is decided by two participants of the same nation (for example the 2024 women’s fencing final that featured two USA participants), or how about dramatic examples of sportsmanship such as the story from the 2020-delayed Tokyo games. In that instance, two high jumpers, Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Barshim of Qatar, agreed to share a gold medal rather than having a “jump-off” to settle the tie between the two competitors. These little nods of sportsmanship, human decency, and unity to a larger ideal can be inspiring.

Lastly, the games also offer an opportunity to show pride in our respective homelands, while also having the chance to learn and engage with folks from other nations. It really is one of the few events that brings together folks from every corner of the globe at one time.

Boy, as much as I love the Olympics, I really wish that the prior sentence was written about the Global Church rather than a global athletic competition, don’t you? While the Games offer the potential of medals and global recognition, I would like to think that the Church has something far greater to offer the world, like the hope found in God, the sacrificial love of Jesus, and the power of the Spirit. While the human accolades may be nice, as people of faith, we understand that there is something far greater that can be obtained than just a gold, silver, or bronze medal.

Believers around the world attest that one day, the whole world will in fact be united in knowing the true power of God. This of course will occur when the Lord’s Divine plans for humanity and creation will be fulfilled and the days of this world transition to the fullness of God’s Kingdom. Until that day happens, however, those who follow in the way of Jesus of Nazareth have a task to complete or a race to be run. Believers are challenged by Jesus to point to what this future day, this coming Kingdom, will be like.

Worshipers around the world will frequently remind themselves, or at least should be reminding ourselves, of that truth when they gather in their sanctuaries and pray the common refrain in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus also prayed that his followers would be a people who could bring the world together for a greater, eternal purpose. While in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night he would be arrested, Jesus prayed to God saying, “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me” (John 17:20-21).

For believers, the idea of bringing the whole world together may seem like a tall task. However, I see at least a small glimmer of what that coming together can look like in the quadrennial event of the Olympic Games.

It reminds me that until our life’s final buzzer, or rather trumpet, sounds, we can be a people who actively pursue the embodiment of both “The Lord’s Prayer” as well as the prayer of our Lord in the garden.

To be a people who pursue unity, for the purpose of showing the whole world the goodness of the Christ we know and serve. While there may not be a gold medal waiting for us at the end, there is certainly a far greater prize, one worth pursuing with all that we have.