I went on an 8-mile run this morning. It was not the most pleasant run I’ve ever done, but it is part of my training for this year’s Bolder Boulder. My son, Zach, and I are doing a Bolder Boulder training group together, and part of the training regimen is to do at least one long run a week. I have a goal in the race this year: to run it in a time (in minutes) less than my age (52). A number of years ago I could have just shown up for the race and done that, but not so anymore. I must train properly to reach my goal.

If you read the letters of Paul in the New Testament, you discover that a number of times Paul used the image of a runner in training when he talked about living out the Christian faith. It makes sense to me. We don’t mature in praying unless we practice praying. We don’t become more effective in proclaiming/sharing your faith unless we practice doing that, and probably a good place to start is by telling someone in our family or someone here at St. Ambrose about some experience of God that we’ve recently had. We don’t become “Biblically literate” unless we practice reading the Bible (and perhaps talking about what we are reading with others) on a regular basis. We don’t advance in keeping the two greatest commandments – to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves – unless we practice loving. (And boy, does God give us ample opportunities for practicing love!) We don’t learn how to “lose ourselves” unless we practice and make it a habit to serve others. We don’t make what Henri Nouwen calls the key conversion move – moving from me at the center of my life to God at the center of my life – unless we regularly practice worshiping God and getting quiet so that we can open up to the movement of the Spirit of God within us.

To be a disciple – a student – of Jesus is to keep practicing all the things that Jesus did. To say the same thing in another way, to be a follower of Jesus is to keep practicing the things that Jesus did – serving, loving, praying, listening, being honest, being a channel for God’s love and healing.

A number of years ago, there was a rather famous interview, at least in the world of sports, with Allen Iverson, a former MVP in the National Basketball Association. The person asking the questions was addressing the issue of Iverson missing practice. Iverson, with incredulity in his voice, said something like this: “Practice? You’re talking about practice, man! It’s just practice!” Clearly Iverson didn’t have a high view of practice, but was more into “saving it for the games.” Iverson has been a very talented basketball player. But what I hear on a regular basis is that the athletes at the very top of their sports are the ones who put in the most work. They are always working hard to improve, and that is what keeps them at the top of their games.

We are not rewarded with $10-$20 million/year contracts to be “the most faithful followers of Jesus.” But make no mistake, there are huge rewards: realizing, after years of practice, that you are deeply connected with God and with other people, and that you know yourself well, too; experiencing the kind of joy that Heather preached about in a recent sermon; the overall reward of a transformed, more compassionate life. These are a few of the really big rewards of following Jesus.

In our culture today, people often want immediate rewards. Many of us want to be really good at something the first time that we try it, or want to have a high salary when we’re two years out of college. The life of faith doesn’t really work that way. We must put in the time. We must “practice, practice, practice”, and then practice some more. In fact, it seems to me that we must keep practicing until we die, because as soon as we master something, our Lord says, “Well done. Now I want you to learn how to do this new thing.”

I hope to reach my goal in the Bolder Boulder this year, and I’ll be disappointed if I don’t. However, I’d be way more disappointed if I got to the end of my life and I heard God say, “You weren’t very disciplined, Peter. You could have known so much more transformation and abundant joy in your life, but you didn’t really practice your faith.”

As I’ve learned once again in my BB training group, it’s a lot more fun (or at least more bearable) to run hills with some other people. I am deeply grateful for you, my practice partners in this life of faith!

Grace and peace,

Peter+