REVIVING THE OLYMPICS
Earlier this month, the Paralympics concluded in Paris, where the Olympics took place the previous month. The ancient Olympics ran for nearly twelve hundred years, from 776 BC to AD 393, before Emperor Theodosius I ended them. But after several centuries, in 1894 Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin organized the first Olympic Congress to revive the Olympic Games. The first of the modern Olympics was held in 1896, in Athens, Greece. After a more than fifteen-hundred-year hiatus, the games were back. And except for major world events like world wars and global pandemics, they have returned at regular intervals ever since.
REVIVING THE PASSOVER
After the death of the prophet Samuel and the conclusion of the golden age of Israel’s united kingdom under David and Solomon, God’s people descended into idolatry. Over the next four hundred years, the temple fell into disrepair and the Book of the Law was neglected. When King Josiah had been on the throne eighteen years, he began a renovation of the temple, where the Book of the Law was rediscovered. This led Josiah to lead the nation in a great revival, so that the temple might be restored and the Passover might be observed once more.
- What’s something you resumed after taking a long break?
- What tradition would you like to see revived?
- If you were to revive something in your spiritual life, what would it be?
