Minister 's Letter - September 2008
Dear Friends
Running the Race
We can be excused for feeling excited and proud of the performance of Team GB at the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing last month. 19 gold medals is our biggest tally since London 1908.
At the 1924 Olympics in Paris, Eric Liddell (remember "Chariots of Fire" - the film that won seven Oscars) won gold in the 400 metres and bronze in the 200 metres. He refused to take part in the 100 metres final because it was due to take place on the Sabbath. This left the way open for Harold Abrahams to win the gold for Great Britain. In 1925 Eric Liddell, the son of a missionary family, completed his religious studies and headed back to the country of his birth, China.
A biography of Eric Liddell "Running the Race" will be launched in China this month. Getting such a western book, containing so much religious and moral content, past the communist party censors is rare indeed, but Liddell has always been held in the highest regard in China. Indeed some of China's Olympic literature lists him as China's first Olympic champion, while his part in protecting his flock from the Japanese invasion in 1937 has always been acknowledged by the Chinese. In 1938 he heard of a wounded Chinese soldier lying helpless in a temple 20 miles from the mission hospital. He cycled for 20 miles over rough terrain to get there and found another injured soldier who had survived a Japanese execution. He manufactured a makeshift cart to help push both men to the hospital. In 1943 he was interned by the Japanese in Weihsien camp with members of the China Inland Mission. Winston Churchill negotiated an exchange of prisoners but Liddell refused to go, giving up his place to a pregnant woman. He died five months before the liberation. A fellow internee of Weihsien camp later wrote of Liddell: "He gave me two things. One was his worn out running shoes, but the best thing he gave me was his baton of forgiveness. He taught me to love my enemies the Japanese and to pray for them."
In christ
Graham Walne (Church treasurer)
Okay that's not Graham in the picture that's Chris - come on Graham send us a picture
PREVIOUS MINISTER 'S LETTERS
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul