When Olympia meet Omega
It won't belong before the children are all back at school. On Monday our Holiday Club for children starts. The theme is very topical this year, we are looking at the Olympics. you know what it could get complicated. Like thousands of others throughout the UK we are using Scripture Union Holiday Club material. So what will make our Holiday Club unique, apart from the brilliant children who will attend and the superb quality of leaders? What will make our club stand out is the fantastic job that the design team have made in decorating the church hall. It is truly something else. Quite amazing! It is a work of art.
The Olympics s a great theme to use at this time to explain to children the importance of nations living together in peace. It also highlights the merit in human beings striving to be the best in their aea of sport. However we will be helping the children understand that winning at any cost can turn you into a loser. Winning is about doing the right thing. Now sometimes when you do the right thing you lose. But you know what sometimes losing is a form of winning. See what I mean it does get complicated. Anyway we'll keep it to that level with the kids.
We are told that the ancient Greeks were highly competitive individuals and believed strongly in the concept of "agon", or "competition" or "contest". Greeks wanted to bethe best in all aspects of life. The greatest honour of all time was to win a victory at Olympia. It was important that the prize eceived had no material value. Tus the olive wreath given to the victory illustrates the point. You competed for the honour. All this makes the ever increasing habit of cheating so repugnant to the ideals of the games. the games were also closely connected to the worship of the gods and departed heroes. sometimes the games where known as funeral games. Homer in his epic poem, The Iliad refers to the games in these terms. They also had sexual undertones, being used as gatherings to promote the fertility cults of the day. The power god Zeus was the god most worshipped at the games.
In many ways the games are a bit of a contradiction. They have become an important political weapon to promote economic wealth. Many of the athletes taking part are professional and see the games as a means of developing their careers. For the Olympics the age of innocence is long gone if they ever represented it in the first place. Yet I think there is a spark of an ideal worth holding on to and maybe one day it will light a true Olympic torch in the world. Did Jesus not say He was the Light of the World. He's brighter than any Olympic torch!
Posted By: rae On: 9 Aug 2008 At: 11:20pm
It’s teamwork that makes the holiday club work. We could never do it alone, each person has a different but vital role. The people doing the registration, the group leaders and helpers, the people providing refreshments, etc. Everyone plays an important part and the most important thing is that we are doing it so that God’s love can be shared with the children who come along and their parents and friends.