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| Friday, September 28, 2007 |
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Using the Muscles of Faith
By webmaster @ 4:53 PM :: 321 Views ::
1 Comments :: Rev. David Lewicki
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I'm not a "manly man." I'm now just getting to be man enough to admit that.
As a teenager, I was a thin, weak, geeky kid. I was so self-conscious. I was envious of the guys who hit puberty at 12, the guys who could benchpress twice my weight, the guys who played football while I played sports like soccer and tennis. I always kidded myself that my brains would make up for my lack of brawn, but brains don't win you many dates in high school.
Finally, in college, I discovered a sport in which I could excel: rowing. I went to college at Yale, which has a long and historic rowing tradition. And even better, there is a "lightweight" rowing team, for which the maximum weight of any oarsman is 160 pounds - perfect for a thin, geeky kid with a big heart. Rowing is a repetitive sport - it's all about training your muscles to do one basic motion and do it faster and with more strength and more grace than the other guy... and even more challenging, you're rowing with 7 other people, so you have to be perfectly coordinated in order for your effort to matter. If you're out of rhythm with your teammate, it doesn't matter how hard you row... you're going nowhere. To be a good oarsman, you have to train your muscles hard, but train your brain and your body to work in concert with others.
I've thought many times since college that there was a metaphor in rowing for the life of faith. Living a life of faith takes hard work: praying daily, going to worship, serving others with intentionality. You have to train your body to do those things. But the muscles we need for faithful living are more than those that affect our individual behaviors - we have to learn how to see our lives and our destinies as so connected to others that we learn to work in concert with them. This means learning how to listen, and forgive, and love. The life of faith is rigorous - it takes a full-body effort... but it demands that we do so not for our own glorification, but with the conviction that the only way we will "win the race" is by working, perfectly, together.
I'm glad for the muscles of faith that God has given me. I wish I'd known about them in high school. I might not have felt so puny. |
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 By
Bflood27 @
Sunday, September 30, 2007 5:11 PM
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It seems it doesnt just "take a village" to raise a child-that village has to continually lift us up as adults to raise a healthy Christian. It certainly is a team effort following the Lord. I thank God for the people who raised me in the church, not just my physical parents, but my Christian family, those at home, and at Marble. I certainly need my family at Marble to lift me up when I am too "puny" myself to handle the "slings and arrows", that come our way in this Christian journey, and I am thankful for it.
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Welcome to MarbleTalks, a weblog published by the ministers and staff of Marble Collegiate Church. If you're unfamiliar with blogs, this short primer will help get you up to speed.
What is a Blog?
MarbleTalks provides a forum for each of our ministers and various staff members to share their thoughts, questions, and experiences with our faith community. Contributors to the blog will use a wide variety of sources for inspiration, and may share those sources when possible. Blogs are built around the active participation of their readers, and will commonly encourage you to take action in your life and the world around you.
Publishing Schedule:
| Sun. |
Dr. Caliandro |
| Mon. |
Sister Carol Perry |
| Tues. |
Rev. Lewicki |
| Wed. |
Dr. Lutz |
| Thur. |
Rev. Jordan |
| Thur. |
Dr. Ruge |
| Fri. |
Rev. Pierce |
| Sat. |
Nina Frost |
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New articles will go up every day, and we hope you'll check in regularly. The seven most recent posts are displayed on this main page. Each article contains a short description and a link to read the full text. If you'd like to go back and read previous entries you missed, click on the "Categories" link at the top of the page and then select the author you're interested in. We don't delete old articles, so you'll be able to come back anytime and re-read the ones that speak to you in significant ways.
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