As the Olympics have been underway for the last couple of weeks, it’s been interesting getting a feel for how people are excited and engaged with this time-honored, albeit delayed, international competition including the greatest athletes in the world. I have been intentionally making myself aware of how it is being received and trying to decipher the differences, if any, there are in whether people are more excited and engaged, or if many Americans are less interested than usual, or even disillusioned with the entire ordeal. To be honest, I’m still figuring out how I’m feeling about it this year. And although I wouldn’t call myself an Olympics fanatic by any means, typically, I pay pretty close attention to it, watch many of the main events, and keep track of the medal count throughout. But I, myself, have noticed that I am viewing these Olympic games a bit differently than normal.
I could be off, but I suspect that I’m not alone in feeling differently towards this Olympics than in years past. My sense is that many are bringing varying personal and cultural feelings into their perspective regarding the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Maybe it’s the fact that these games are a year late, and it feels like a “make-up” event. Maybe it’s because, without fans, the atmosphere of the events, which usually features roaring crowds passionately cheering on their countrymen on the world’s biggest stage, is eerily quiet and makes for a lackluster scene. For some, maybe they find the whole thing too politics-adjacent and don’t agree with how national or international entities have handled issues like COVID-19 protocols, etc. Others may be disillusioned by various participants and the political statements they may bring into what they wish would remain as simply an arena for athletes to compete in various sports for their country’s honor. Conversely, it’s entirely possible that many are more enthralled than ever. Due to recent political and national division and strife, they may just be excited to put all that aside and simply be able to root for their country, its values, and its citizens on the world stage.
However you have been viewing the Olympics, I suspect that if your feelings are different than years past, it has something to do with the divided state of our nation and culture. You may be seeing the Tokyo Olympics as a much needed reprieve from the constant culture wars engulfing the nation, on the other hand you may think the Olympics have already become a casualty of these culture wars, polluted with the toxicity of the same issues. And whether that has made you excited about this year’s Olympic Games or has extinguished your enthusiasm about them altogether, I think that this cultural moment can teach us something profound – and deeply spiritual – about who we are as individuals, as well as members of various communities. Moreover, I believe it can teach us about who we are as sons and daughters of God and citizens of the kingdom of God.
The truth is, these past few years have been exceptionally destructive for the unity of Americans. One could argue that our nation and society are as divided as we have been since the Civil War era. We can’t turn on our TVs or scroll on our phones without being punched in the face with this fact, and we all feel the repercussions of this disunity. But one thing that all of this ugliness can teach us, if we let it, is that we desperately need community. We also need to understand why community is so important, as well as consider what kind of community we’re purposed for.
As Christians, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that we in America are increasingly divided. We are an increasingly secular nation whose values are becoming progressively divergent to those described and pre-scribed in the Bible. More importantly, we should also be able to explain why this division is so harmful to a society, and debilitating to the individual.
In the first couple of chapters in Genesis, we learn a few fundamental truths about humanity that give us a clear explanation for our deep-seated desire and need for community. First, we learn that God makes us in His image. How does this indicate the necessity of community? Because God is a community unto Himself. We learn that God is both one AND three. Therefore, before He ever created any angel, human or any other kind of creature, God experienced community unto Himself through the inter-personal nature of the Trinity.
Secondly, in Genesis chapter 2, verse 18, God declares that it is not good for man to be alone. So, although God had made man, and it was good, and there was no flaw within this creature, God said that something was missing. It was not good for man to be alone, and in order to reflect the image of God, he was to exist in meaningful relationships with both God and with others.
Now you might be thinking “But we do have communities. I mean, just look around. It seems like it’s nothing but groups and tribes and communities. There’s the LGBTQ+ community, the Black community, the Latino community, etc. There are Republicans and Democrats, and liberals and conservatives. There are even communities of football and basketball fans, and diehard college sports fans. So, don’t we have community? And if so, why are we so divided, isolated and disillusioned?” This a great question. But, while some of these various groups and communities may be well, good and natural, the Scriptures provide us the answer for why we are experiencing so much disunity and division, even when there has arguably never been more communities with which to be involved.
As is often the case in diagnosing our own problems as individuals and as a society, the answer to the problem involves the sin of idolatry. We humans are experts in making a good thing a God thing. The problem is not that we have found earthly communities where we come together around things like nationality, ethnicity, beliefs, or interests. The problem is that we have replaced our most fundamental identity and community with these earthly ones which pull us in every direction, tell us countless different things, but ultimately are fleeting and temporal.
The bible tells us who we are, and from start to finish, it declares that we are (1) family members of God as adopted sons and daughters, and (2) citizens of the eternal kingdom of God. When we forget these beautiful and fundamental truths about who we are, it distorts our perspective and causes all kinds of problems, both vertically and horizontally. When we forget that we are members of the family of God – a staggering and life-changing truth – then we will fail to treat God as the loving Father that He is. We will fail to see ourselves as His children and will struggle to rightly understand the privileges and responsibilities that accompany our adoption. Also, failing to understand ourselves as sons and daughters will have a negative impact on our community. When we don’t take this truth as the supreme one in our lives, we will find ourselves unifying around the wrong kinds of things. These communities and those things on which they are based, will ultimately fail to satisfy us or deliver the kind of joy and satisfaction that only comes from the community God has created us for.
When we start to understand these fundamental truths about who we are and what we were meant to be unified around, we can refocus our priorities and stop letting worldly tribes and earthly groups define who we are. We can stop depending on political or ethnic communities to provide us with the meaning and significance that can only be found by being a son or daughter of God, a brother or sister to other believers, and an eternal citizen of the kingdom of heaven. As we consider what the Olympics and this specific era in our nation’s existence are telling us, may we discover and destroy the idols of earthly communities we have erected as a replacement for the community of God. May we allow the division they have created to give way to unity, grace and peace that comes from being sons, daughters of the King and citizens of His kingdom.
