The opening ceremony for the 1996 International Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta, Georgia, is scheduled for Friday July 19 and the closing ceremony for Sunday August 4. This means that every church's congregational consciousness over at least the three Sundays of July 21, 28, and August 4 supplies some unique community and national dynamics for Gospel proclamation through a focus on biblical sermons built from the various athletic analogies referenced in God's Word.

The Atlanta Olympics

The staging of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games requires a budget of 1.6 Billion, catering to around two million visitors, and involving sophisticated, high-tech, state-of-the-art digital electronics for everything from communications to security protection. The main stadium seats 750,000 at a cost of $120 million to view the 10,000 performers who will celebrate opening day festivities.

Ten other venues are also being built in Georgia for other events. They will sell a total of 11 million tickets for 271 events which involve competitors from 200 nations. NBC will telecast over 190 hours of the competitions and celebrations (for which privilege they paid $456 million!). Some 40,000 volunteer workers will join 17,000 others in paid positions. The 1996 Games will be the 100th anniversary of their modern re-institution.

Historical Background

Greek and Roman athletic games became widely known in Palestine as during their Hellenistic period many Jews absorbed traditional gymnastic programs and competitive games into their everyday culture. Theaters, amphitheaters, and stadia were erected in Jerusalem and Jericho. Herod the Great's hippodrome in Ceaserea featured competitive athletic games every fifth year. The Olympic games were the earliest and most celebrated of the four national festivals of Grecian society. The Olympic tradition began with foot races and later developed to include wrestling, boxing and discus throwing. Other games quickly developed involving gymnastics, horsemanship, and even musical contests. Victors were called to a podium where their names were announced and they were honored with a wreath or a crown, which in those early Christian times consisted of wild olives, pine or even celery.

Preaching Values

Wise preachers will seek to capture values from this coming context by immediately planting a series of sermon seeds which can be cultivated to a fruitful harvest over the weeks ahead. While in the New Testament sporting references are frequent, they seldom refer directly to the Olympics, but rather focus on drawing spiritual lessons from the athletic analogies proposed.

Pulpit Resources

The information which follows suggests themes, texts, approaches, and resources which may be used to stimulate your own personal planning. A series of five sermons (or selections from them) under the general title of The Bible and the Olympics could include:

# 1. "Passing On The Torch"

# 2. "How To Run The Race"

# 3. "How To Exercise"

# 4. "Going For The Gold" &