Joyful Homecomings

The Olympic games in Paris ended with a spectacular closing ceremony on Sunday evening past. It involved the amazing athletes, various musical acts and the Hollywood actor, Tom Cruise, jumping from the roof of the stadium in a daring stunt using wires and escaping into the Paris traffic on a motorbike, taking the Olympic flag and flame onto Los Angeles for the games in 2028.

There have been so many highlights from these games. We love to hear the backstories. We hear of the hours of training, the olympic dreams inspired by Olympians of the past. We get inspired by athletes’ journeys through personal challenges and tragedies to making it onto a podium. We recognise the phenomenal effort required to reach this elite level, and how your preparations can be tragically undone by an injury at the wrong time, and all those years of preparation have to be put on hold for 4 more years.

It was a tremendous games for Northern Ireland, with athletes representing both Team GB and Team Ireland delivering amazing performances and bringing home a record haul of medals.

I wonder if you followed the games, do you have special moments that stick out in your memory?

I loved seeing the British diver, Andrea Spendolini Sireix, turning to her Dad, the famous television personality, Fred, and his words of comfort and encouragement after her disappointment on missing out on a medal. I was incredibly proud of the Irish womens 4×400 metres relay effort as they came in an agonising 4th just outside the medals, despite a national record. I’m always in awe of the 100 metres final, for both men and women, when you see all that preparation and power unleashed and the races effectively over in around 10 or 11 seconds. I was bedazzled by the sheer athleticism and courage of the gymnasts as they did their amazing routines. It was amazing to see Newtownards man, Rhys McClenaghan, take gold on the pommel horse, the fulfilment of a lifetime’s dedication.

As a church, we were thrilled to see the success of Jack McMillan in the pool in the Men’s 4×200 metres freestyle. Jack played a key part in the qualifying round and was part of the group that took gold. I remember speaking to Jack in Church one Christmas Day as he was beginning to make major strides in his career. His commitment, discipline and modesty were instilled in him by his late parents, Richard and Jennifer. They took him to all those early morning training sessions and encouraged him in pursuing his dream. We are so proud of all he has achieved and it was great that his brother, Leo, could go to support him.

It’s always amazing to see the wonderful reception these superheroes from the teams receive as they return to their homelands. Yesterday, I saw Team Ireland on an open top bus in Dublin’s O Connell Street surrounded by thousands of people who turned out to welcome them home. Team GB arrived in London’s St. Pancras’s Station on the Eurotunnel and, again, huge crowds turned out to welcome them. I understand there will be a televised event for Team GB in Manchester at the weekend, which will enable the public to celebrate their incredible achievements on the world stage.

The Bible has a beautiful story to do with homecoming that has touched the lives of many over the centuries. It’s about a young man who squandered his inheritance in wild living and ended up in a famine situation far from home. He was so poor he had to eat the pods for the pigs he was forced to look after in order to survive.

Having shamed his family, he decided to try to return home and see how he would be received. He deserved to be driven away after his shameful behaviour but, instead, he found his father running towards him having seen him from a distance. A celebration was thrown with food, fine robes and the best of everything. The father could not contain his relief and his joy. The son who, to all intensive purposes was dead, was alive and back again.

This beautiful homecoming story is a picture of the love God has for us, His children. Even though we turn our backs upon him, and often go far from him, there’s that possibility to come home. There’s a welcome and a love that went so far as to give up His life on a cross so that we might come safely home and be welcomed and received as if we never went away.

If you have never encountered it, it’s the most moving and powerful homecoming you will ever be part of, and it’s there for all of us if we just acknowledge our wrongdoing, say sorry and ask God to receive us to himself.

Could I ask you to hold in your prayers the family of Margaret Faulkner whose funeral will take place on Friday 16th at 9.45 am, and the family of Joyce Murphy whose funeral will take place on Monday 19th August at 3 pm in the church.

Look forward to speaking again soon.

Much love to everyone,

Jono.

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