Editorial:
February issue
The first time I went running I
managed 30 seconds before dropping
to my knees and begging for mercy.
The second time I started crying.
The
third time I think I uttered more
expletives in half an hour than the rest
of my life put together. In a fit of wild
optimism my (equally unfit) friend and
I had made a pact that we would run a
10km race for charity, only to be
knocked sideways by the horrific
reality of actually training for it.
We were totally rubbish.
Everything hurt and being able to run
even for a few minutes, never mind the
full hour we would need for the 10km,
seemed like an impossible dream.
Every single morning that we went, it
was a battle.
But of course we persevered. And,
over the next few months, we made
incremental improvements, adding a
minute a week on to the distance we
could run. When it came to the race,
crossing the finish line and feeling that
rush of adrenaline was easily the
proudest moment of my life so far.
The whole experience taught me a
few things: running is for anyone, not
just the people who were good at sport
at school, having a buddy to do it with
makes it do-able, and it hurts, but it
really is worth the pain.
You can apply all these lessons to
your spiritual life. Whether in the
context of studying theology or
finding a Lent, discipline I pray
that you find ways of drawing nearer
to God which take a bit of effort and
discipline, but through which you are
richly rewarded.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in in
response to Peter Oborne’s comment
piece in the January issue. Contrary to
what some of the correspondence
suggests, we are not party political at
Christianity (we’ve been accused of
being too left wing as well as too
right wing in the past, which means
we must be doing something right) but
we do believe in debate. I hope you
enjoy this month’s contributions Rev
George Pitcher former religion editor
at The Daily Telegraph, and Rev
Canon Dr Angus Ritchie, director of
the Contextual Theology Centre. As
always, keep the letters coming, and
I’ll keep aiming to commission pieces
which provoke a discussion.
And finally, not to be outdone by
Youthwork magazine, who have been
doing this for over a year, we have
finally got round to launching a
Christianity magazine podcast. The
very first one, featuring our columnist
Steve Chalke, and presented by myself
and our culture writer Martin
Saunders, will be available to
download from iTunes from the
middle of January.
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