BISHOP'S DIARY

11:36am Friday 29th August 2008

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THE fact that that Team GB did so well in the Olympics is cause for great rejoicing. We witnessed an extraordinarily impressive performance by our athletes and what a joy it was to watch them.

What we did not see was all the effort that went into their training.

Victories like theirs do not just happen, they are the result of great skill and a huge amount of sheer hard work – often over years.

Olympic athletes manage their punishing training schedules because of their enormous determination and their sense of purpose. The human spirit is capable of amazing feats if faced with a challenge that it is intent upon overcoming, if it is given a goal, a purpose The tragedy is that many people in our society simply do not feel that there is any point in life. The fact that we are better off materially than any of our forbears and enjoy wealth and convenience that they could not even have imagined does not help. People in our society are no happier as a result.

Material wealth does not bring happiness in life. Purpose does. To put it another way, if life does not point anywhere, it will disappoint - quite literally.

People of faith believe that there is a purpose in life beyond that of winning the Olympics.

In the Bible the Christian life is compared to a race. The author to the letter to the Hebrews writes: ‘Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.’ Studies show that people of faith are happier and more fulfilled in their lives than others. That is because they have a purpose. They do not have a monopoly on happiness, of course, but, like Olympic athletes, they can remind us that a life without purpose is unlikely to be a happy one.

RT REV DR INGE, Bishop of Worcester