Free & Fit Challenge 2018 - Being Courageous through Sport & Spirituality - February 2019

Brexit or Pro EU. Wall or Pro Immigration. Liberal or Conservative. Faith or Fiction. We live in a world which constantly debates and researches the basic foundations of our humanity. The questions of simply gender, race and socio-economic grouping no longer represent the current progressive discussions around equality. Instead we are questionning the very fabric of our identity. What is gender, what exactly is our DNA and how can we be 100% certain of our ethnicity without a genuine scientific and full family background check. These changing societal norms leave us asking deep, diverse and interesting questions.

Through Sport and meditation I find myself being able to release myself from these discussions and as I heard the Archbishop of London from the Coptic Church describe recently, Zoom out. When questionned about how could the Coptic Church hold onto its strong identity and traditional Christian values the ABC stated that due to the oppresion, persecution and obvious challenges Coptics face in the middle East they have an inner peace which creates a safe place, rather than be drawn on making bold theological statements, where they can remain true to their tradition and respond in love without compromding their core values and beliefs.

This then made me ask how can I can create my own peace in the face of adversity? Being Christian in New York City is not easy. Perhaps you could argue it is easy for me as I no longer work in a secular field, spend most of time with Christians and at a seminary school wrestling with theological debates, but the reality is that the students and youth I serve encounter the very battles and challenges I describe in the opening of this blog everyday. Through my open dialogue, discussions and coffee hang outs with young people their greatest desire is a longing for a deeper relationship with God.

My own answer to finding peace is through a connection with God whilst exercising. Whether it be through working out, running, playing racquet sports or soccer I find that when I persperate, create endorphines and sweat that I am able to create a closer connection to my creator. Ultimately when I am outside in his creation, taking part in a sport I am able to be in awe of who he is and through his creation relate to who he is. Witnessing his creation, being a part of his creation and honoring his creation (my body) I am able to form an equalisation between my humanity and his divine sprituality. Sport and Spiritual dialogue through prayer with God help me to go to God like David or Job in the bible and cry out to God.

When recently discussing Christianity with my Non faith friends the biggest opposition to my faith has always been, both historically and today, that I overuse scripture and they argue that the Bible has no power over them because it was written only by mere humans and is not the word of God. As a result, my personal emotional response drew me closer to my humanity and helped me recognize my need to get even closer to my creator God. In response to this I found myself singing, praising and running to find an inner and more powerful relationship with God.

Through running I was able to let go of all the noise in my head, sing aloud to the Lord a new song and when necessary shout out cries of anguish and despair. This continues to be the case for me and I have a need to do this everyday. I constantly exercise and couragously rejoin open dialogue with God through prayer, meditation and participation in sport. This helps me to build a spiritual relationship with my ultimate spiritual Director; The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

This summer I am going to be exploring Lincoln Harvey’s a Brief Theology of Sport and Sam Sing’s Spirituality of Sport on two UK and US retreats. Through an online book study, two intentional deeper studies and discussions I am hoping to build a space and opportunity to explore different peoples experiences and perspectives of how Sport snd Spirituality can help them build a stronger relationship with God.

To sign up to join one of our weekly worship and workout sessions, retreats or to discuss sport and spirituality simply check out our website on www.freenfit.org

Please also email us at freeandfitnyc@gmail.com for an opportunity for us to pray and support you Spiritually.

1 Corinthians 16:13

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.

Love and Blessings F& F Team. Join Tim at Free and Fit events by signing up to our events online here at our website www.freenfit.org About the Free & Fit Challenge The Free and Fit course has been created to build strong social skills, charge healthy physical bodies and to instil a well balanced and sound mind. Participants who complete the full course over 12 sessions will learn how to work effectively with their team members to build strong values of power, love, and self discipline. Free & Fit Mission To reduce loneliness through Sports, the Arts, Social Justice and Service. Free & Fit Vision The vision of free and fit course is to engage, motivate, improve and hence find freedom in a physical and spiritual state. As such the freedom that leads to a peaceful heart; leads to a healthy body. The course is built upon the core value of learning together to be disciplined and motivated in our faith as well as our fitness. Free & Fit Website: https://www.freenfit.org/ Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCf4gjFopw_eyr6-w7c3bxiQ Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/pg/freeandfitchallenge Twitter&Instagram: @freeandfitnyc Email: freeandfitnyc@gmail.com Freedom // Fitness // Fellowship Free & Fit Challenge © Copyright 2017 Free & Fit NYC/NJ © Copyright 2017 Free & Fit London © Copyright 2017