Running, Racing, and Rituals (Part 2)

También disponible en español

In the first part of this three-part article, we discussed the relationship that exists between running and your spiritual life as a personal discipline. This article will explore the relationship between racing as the corporate experience of faith.

Racing

Racing is corporate. Racing is running with others in a competition of some sort and not just by yourself. Every race has its organization, rules, and purpose. Things like the corporation or institution that organizes the race, their agreements with the proper authorities regarding the use of the public facilities, the scheduling of the event and all the logistics, the official rules that govern the course, distance, tracking, and safety, whether the race purpose is commercial, athletic, or charitable, and so on, are all part of the corporate nature of racing. Through the corporate nature of racing we learn that a marathon is 26.2 miles and there are national and international organizations that certify race courses. Even the unwritten rules of expected behavior and sportsmanship give racing its corporate character.

Faith is personal in the sense of each running his or her own course; discovering his or her own purpose in life. However, and especially true in our American society with its individualistic emphasis, we often forget that faith is also corporate. Faith is corporate in the sense of each running in a race, hence, the race of faith. I very often encounter people that struggle in this area; "I believe in God but not in the church," is a comment I hear now with more frequency than ever. This is equivalent of saying "I will run my own marathon of 1 mile." The race of faith has its own organizing factors, its own rules and expected behaviors, and its own corporate objectives.

We are of encouragement to others and we are encouraged by others in our corporate race of faith. This dual role of helper and helped will preserve our focus on running in such way so that we are counted among the winners. We now want to win for ourselves, but also want to win for those who follow us, and will follow us. Understanding the corporate nature of faith will help us stay on right on track.

[Part 1] [Part 3]

Vladimir Lugo
vlugo@race-of-faith.com