When Eric ran he felt a Liddell godly pleasure

The church I pastor will celebrate a centenary next year. April 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of a congregation being in our current building. 2024 also marks the centenary of another cause for celebration. Recently I was looking for a CD to play in the car and picked our second-hand copy of the Vangelis score and soundtrack to Chariots of Fire, the 1981 Oscar-winning film that narrates the story of the famous Scottish athlete, Eric Liddell. Liddell was a runner and a Christian. He became an Olympic champion and then a missionary in China. In Chariots of Fire the actor playing Eric Liddell says "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel his pleasure." Baptist theologian and writer Robert Ellis has pointed out that this quote 'appears to be the screenwriter Colin Welland's attempt to encapsulate Liddell's belief rather than words which can be traced directly back to the sprinter himself' (The Games People Play, p.184). 

Liddell is mostly remembered for his refusal to compete in the 100 metres event at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, due to his heat being on a Sunday which conflicted with his religious beliefs about the Sabbath day. Liddell then gratefully accepted the opportunity to compete in the 400 metres event instead and he won Gold medal in the final. (At a sports quiz night I attended last week I discovered that Gold medals are 90% silver - but that's another story!). 

I was telling my daughter about Liddell's story in the car while the soundtrack was playing. I couldn't quite remember the year of the Paris Olympics in the 1920s. Back home I picked up from the bookshelf our Chariots of Fire DVD (also from a charity shop!), read the back cover and suddenly realised the event was in 1924 and therefore next year will mark 100 years since his Olympic success. Next year's Olympic Games are hosted by Paris, which adds a lovely touch of extra poignancy to the Liddell story. I have read about some commemorative projects and events being planned in Edinburgh and wonder how I might mark the occasion. Perhaps 'in the spirit of Liddell' I could refuse to go to work on a Sunday next July and enjoy some Sabbath rest watching the Olympics or some other sport. But tell any church pastor that Sunday is a day of rest and they will have legitimate reason to disagree! Perhaps I could challenge one of my daughters to a 400 metre race. At my age, I think I know who'd win.