Each year, at the start of the TCS Marathon, I serve as one of the chaplains who run the Non-Denominational Christian Service for the runners in the Start Village.

The following is the sermon I delivered this year before the big race:

Marathon Sermon 2024

I am going to begin this year’s message with a passage from 1 Corinthians, Chapter 9:

“You know that many runners enter a race, and only one of them wins the prize. So run to win!”

This is what we are here, today, to do – to run hard.  To run to win!

But we know, as much as we’d like to win this specific race, that we won’t.  I’m not sharing a sermon and worshipping in the elite tent.  We are here among the great masses, the everyday people, the common folk, at least common among marathoners (maybe the least common people anywhere).

We are a special breed. 

And a race like this is special, and like none other, because when we finish, we all win a prize.  We actually win a host of prizes.

First, we will be given a medal to wear proudly for the rest of the day.  Some may even wear the medal to work tomorrow or to church next week or to Thanksgiving in a few weeks. 

And why not?  You earned it!

So we do run to win and earn the prize, but we also run for more than that…

In the passage from 1 Corinthians, St. Paul goes on to say:

“Athletes work hard to win a crown that cannot last, but we do it for a crown that will last forever.” 

The medal we earn today, after we cross the finish line in Central Park, is one that will last, for a long time.  That medal might be something your children and their children pass down from one generation to the next:

“This was Dad’s…”

“This was Grandpa’s…”

“This was Great Grandpa’s medal, the one that he earned, from the New York City Marathon back in 2024…”

That medal might last longer than all of us, and that is wonderful and special, but even more the medal, as we run and finish today we will gain some things that will last in us forever.

Character, Strength, Confidence.  The knowing that we can overcome great challenges. 

And the best way to do all of this, is to run with God and Jesus, with them at our side as we move, ever forward. 

This race is a race that we don’t run alone.  In fact, we never run alone.

Have you ever, in the most difficult part of a long run, asked God for strength?

Have you ever prayed to Jesus for the will to keep moving forward?

When we do this, we find He is there, always, running with us, helping us ever forward.  God is never far from us.  The love and strength of Jesus Christ is always at our side.

And when we glorify the Lord and his son, we’re creating a medal, of types, but one that will last longer than forever because that medal, the medal that comes from the strength of believing in God and His son, will be with us for all eternity.

As we glorify and honor His name, He becomes stronger – and so do we. 

This is what God wants from us.  He wants us to find ways to glorify his name in all we do.

In Corinthians Paul continues:

“I don’t run without a goal… I keep my body under control…

so I won’t lose out after telling the good news to others.”

Sharing the good news – that’s the medal that lasts forever!

In return for God’s grace and glory, as you tell the story of your race…

And as you show off the medal that you earned…

Also share the good news, the great news, the most wonderful news, that the Lord, our God, the King of the Universe, was right there with you, stride for stride, on a most glorious day, in the most magnificent race, in the most wonderful city.

Let God be with you as you run.  And let his journey with you remain as a big part of your race story.

Let the strength of Christ Jesus push you ever forward.

Amen.