Mercy Now
Even knowing the results ahead of time, it was still hard to
imagine that anything could look more lonely, isolated, painful and tragic than
what took place on the Olympic Ice to end the Women’s Free Skate as I watched
it Thursday evening. To see the fifteen year-old Kamila Valieva having to pick
herself up off of the ice over and over again; at the end of her skate bent
over, head in hands, unable to look up, a blank look in her eyes as she
attempted to make the obligatory arms in the air “thank you” to what passes for
a crowd; then skating off the ice only to be criticized by her coaches for not
“fighting” through the errors, rather than them showing any compassion or
comfort for the girl who had become the flashpoint of multiple layers of
failures and scandal among the adults entrusted to care for one who is arguably
one of the greatest talents ever to glide across the ice. She was made to carry
the burden of a drug doping scandal onto the ice and into her routine. It was
too much.
While Valieva was in tears, her body heaving and shaking as
she sobbed uncontrollably, backstage, the Gold Medalist, Anna Shcherbakova, sat
alone, clutching a teddy bear, no one there to congratulate her, a vacant far
away look in her eyes trying to grasp how it had all come to this; while
teammate Alexandra Trusova, in disbelief that throwing five quads in one
program was not enough to win Gold, angrily shouting and crying how unfair it
all is and refusing at first to go out
to the podium for the Mascot presentation. Then there were the tears of joy
cascading down Kaori Sakamoto’s face in mixed joy and disbelief that without
the “big jumps” of the Russian girls she somehow landed in third place for the
Bronze.
Half-way around the world, it was heartbreaking in so many
different ways that one was forced to agree with Jesus addressing that huge and
diverse crowd on the plain who suffered from troubled spirits and all kinds of
dis-ease; Jesus who says to them, “Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful,” [Luke 6:36] no doubt invoking the psalmist who declares, “God is
merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” [Psalm
103:8] If ever there was a scene deserving such steadfast love, graciousness
and mercy, it was in Bejing’s Capital Indoor Stadium on Thursday, February 17,
2022.
The Court of
Arbitration of Sport deemed it would be damaging not to let Valieva skate
despite the evidence of a banned substance in her blood test. By the end of the
night, however, it looked as if it was even more damaging to her emotionally
and physically not to have withdrawn her from the competition. It was hard not
to be angry. Angry that any number of adults and agencies allowed had failed
her. It was hard not to judge and condemn all those who put Valieva in position
to fail.
Yet, Jesus says, Judge not lest ye be judged; do not condemn
and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven. [Luke 6:37] And,
Be merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful. At times like this it is
just so so hard to live into the essence of what Jesus means when he speaks
about Love and Mercy. It was as if there was a murderer’s row of enemies to
lash out at, and yet, we are to be merciful, forgiving, and, oh yes, we are to
love our enemies. One day each week at Noonday Prayer John Philip Newell urges
us to pray:
We wake to the forgiveness of a new
day.
We wake to the freedom to begin
again.
We wake to the mercy of the Sun’s
redeeming light
Always new, always gift, always
blessing.
We wake to the forgiveness of this
new day. Amen.
If you love those who love you, says Jesus, what credit is
that to you? Even sinners do the same. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
To love one’s self, we need to wake to the forgiveness of each new day, and
wake to the freedom to begin again. This must also be our prayer for those
young women who skated the other night – all of them. For all of them, no
matter where they placed, no matter where they were from, every single one of
them had to feel that not only the eyes of the world were watching them, but must
have felt the weight of the entire world on their shoulders as they attempted to
fly across the ice and leap through the air to bring wonder and joy and
astonishment to those of us who were watching.
Mercy now, Lord. Mercy now for Kamila, Anna, Alexandra and
Kaori. Help us, dear Lord, not to judge, not to condemn, but to accept your
forgiveness, accept your mercifulness, accept your belovedness; that we too may
become merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
that we may love our neighbors, love our enemies, and be merciful. May we be
merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful.
Amen.
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