Sacred Rhythms: Discovering God’s Gift of Sabbath

Eric Liddell took a deep breath as the murmuring of the crowd grew quiet in his ears. The track was warm today, not hot, but warm as it sat underneath the Paris sun. The Scotsman reached down, his thumbs digging slightly into the ash-grey cinder, causing little clouds of dust to swirl around his wrists and feet as he held his body perfectly still,

Waiting. Waiting, waiting for—

Eight months before the starting gun sent him hurtling around the track that June day in 1924, Eric Lidell had looked down at a piece of paper, closed his eyes, and made up his mind. As one of Scotland’s most talented athletes of his time, Liddell was offered a spot on Britain’s Olympic team without any real debate. In fact, so explosive was Lidell, with his head thrown back and arms swinging aggressively at his sides, that the 22-year-old was favored to win the 100-meter sprint in that year’s Paris games.

There was just one problem.

When the schedule was released, Eric Lidell noticed that the 100m sprint would be held on a Sunday.

As the son of Christian missionaries, born 22 years earlier in Tianjin, China, Lidell took the Sabbath literally, and running a race, even a race in the Olympics, and even a race he was projected to win, wasn’t an option.

The press went mad at his decision. Reporters pounded their fists on the door of his dormitory in Edinburgh, shouting requests for a quote, or a comment, anything that would paint his choice in what they considered to be a more sane light.

Perhaps most shocking (given the culture of our day) was Lidell’s response when some reporters even went as far as to call him a “traitor to his country.”

“It’s just not my belief,” he would calmly state to his friends. I don’t criticise others about it, but I’m not going to run on Sunday.”

And that was that. Eric Lidell, in order to honor the Sabbath, gave up his spot in the 100m dash and turned his attention to the 400m distance, a race for which he wasn’t known, and certainly was not projected to win.

47.6 seconds after the starting gun sent him hurtling around the track that June day in 1924, Eric Lidell won the 400m by 5m, in what the London Times would call “probably the most dramatic race ever seen on track.”

Those same reporters who had called him a traitor hailed him as a Scottish hero as he returned home to crowds of admirers. Around the country, teenagers started Eric Lidell fan clubs, and wherever he went, men shook his hand.

He had everything a 22-year-old athlete could want. Except this is Eric Lidell we’re talking about, so without hesitation, he packed up his few belongings and returned to Tianjin, where, along with his missionary work, he taught at the college, math and science sometimes, and always sports.. Tianjin was good to Eric Lidell; he championed students’ rights, helped build the Minyuan stadium, and in 1934 met and married his sweetheart, Florence Mackenzie, the daughter of Canadian missionaries. Side by side, the couple served the people of this Chinese city, raising their daughters, Patricia and Heather, to do the same. In 1941, the family of four (soon to be five as Florence was pregnant yet again, with another daughter), the reality of Japanese military aggression had grown so prevalent that the British government advised their citizens to leave, and so, Eric Lidell made another decision.

Taking his daughters in his lap, he looked down into their faces and told them to be good girls. “Look after mommy until I get back,” he said, and as the ship’s whistle blew, he gave his family one last smile, and turned from the cabin.

Eric Lidell was born on January 16, 1902, in Tianjin, China. To most of the world, he was known as “The Flying Scotsman” because of his record-breaking run in 1924, but to the 500 children and students whom he stayed behind to protect through the violence of World War Two, he was simply “Uncle Eric.” Eric Lidell died in a Japanese internment camp on February 21, 1945, only a few months before it was liberated at the end of the war.

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.”
Psalm 1:1-2

What a beautiful reminder, Psalm one is that the Christian life is meant to look different. How many of us spend our days so preoccupied with our busy schedules that we often just sprinkle the things of God on top of our already-full calendars? But we are meant for a different rhythm, one that begins with stopping and makes time for rest. Eric Lidell’s decision to forsake the race he was most prepared for was immediate because he had spent years protecting the Sabbath day. Giving up that God-honoring practice wasn’t an option for him. Now, we’re not saying that anyone who works on a Sunday is dishonoring God by doing so, surely there are jobs where that is required of you, but are you intentionally carving out time to stop, and rest with God so that you can meditate on His word, and delight in His Laws? If so, how can you better protect that practice, and if not, how can you take a first step today? As we continue our journey, take the next minute to stop, meditate on Psalm One, and delight in God’s presence and his peace.

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.”

Let’s pray together.

Lord God, help me to rest in your presence today. Call to mind the times when I have forsaken rest with you to follow my own path. Help me to establish a new practice today, one of protecting my Sabbath rest so that I delight in you and your law. Good and Holy Father, lead me to treasure your rest as I should, because it is full of you.
Amen.