Carrying the Torch

In 1996 Friendship Baptist Church in Clanton started a new event that became an annual event.  The church planned an old-fashioned picnic the Sunday before July the Fourth.  We prepared barbeque, baked beans, tater salad, ice-cold cokes, and homemade peach ice cream.  We planned sack races, pitching horseshoes, and volleyball.

What made this particular Sunday special was we learned that the Olympic Torch Relay would come through Clanton on this date.  Later we discovered that Clanton would be one of the stops for the Torch.

Chilton Baptist Association decided that it would be a great evangelistic event because CNN planned live coverage of the stop.  Every church in the Clanton area agreed to wear a T-shirt with their church logo.  I still have mine even though it is much smaller today seventeen years ago.  It had an eagle, red, white, and blue stripes, and stars.  Most folks commented that it looked like a Harley Davison Motorcycle T-shirt.  Across the back, it had Friendship Baptist Church.  The Association designated June 30, 1996 as “Tennis shoe and T-shirt Sunday.” 

The Olympic Torch coming to town was the talk of everyone.  I did not think much of it until I sighted the Torch.  Something wonderful happened as the torchbearer came running down the hill into the Clanton City Park.  People began cheering and I could feel chills running over my body.  Suddenly I realized that I was part of history.  The torch may never visit Clanton again, but on Day One, April 27, 1996, the Olympic Torch Relay started in Los Angeles, California and On Day 65, June 30, 1996, the Torch rested in Clanton, Alabama for a few moments.  Promoters of the Torch Relay asked our Director of Missions, Charles Christmas, to have a prayer for the Relay.  One of the provisions was there was to be no preaching.  Dr. Christmas had a wonderful plan.  As the CNN cameras scanned the event, church T-shirts were always visible.  Dr. Christmas had one of the most evangelist prayers I have ever heard.  CNN did not know it, but Dr. Christmas presented the Gospel message in his prayer with the eloquence of Peter and his first century Pentecostal message.  “The T-shirt/Tennis Shoe Sunday” was a great evangelist event.

After a few moments of rest, the Torch continued its journey.  The torch’s journey began with the lighting in Olympia, Greece. The Olympic Games Organizing Committee determined the route, as well as the theme, modes of transportation for the torch, and the stops that it will take along its way to the Opening Ceremony.

The torch travels from country to country by plane.  Once it arrives in a city, it usually spends one day going from torchbearer to torchbearer on foot. Sometimes it goes to place by car, boat, bicycle, motorcycle, dog sled, horse, or virtually any other type of conveyance. 

The torch went through my hometown of Jemison before arriving in Clanton.  Jemison folks thought they would get the jump on Clanton folks (you know how towns are rivals).  A crowd gathered in Jemison to cheer the runner hoisting the torch high in the air.  Suddenly, a motorcycle with the torch zipped through town.  Jemison folks, who had not intended to be in Clanton, were in a panic trying to get to the park in Clanton.  A couple of miles before town, the motorcyclist passed the torch to a runner.

“On certain legs of the relay, the torch must be housed in a special container. For a trip across the Great Barrier Reef before the 2000 Olympic Games, a special torch was designed to burn underwater. On airplanes, where open flames are not allowed, the flame is typically stored in an enclosed lamp, much like a Miner's lamp. At night, it is kept in a special cauldron until the relay begins once again the following day.”

It is considered a great privilege to be chosen as a torchbearer. Athletes, actors, musicians, sports figures, and politicians have all carried the flame.

Almost anyone can carry a torch that is at least 14 years old and is able to carry it for at least 437 yards. Handicapped people have been torchbearers.  Some have carried the torch while riding in a wheelchair. The torchbearers are usually persons that have made a significant contribution to their community and because they personify the theme of that particular Olympics.

A caravan accompanies each torchbearer with security personnel, a medical team, the media, and extra torches in case the torch the runner is carrying goes out.  At the end of the relay, the last torchbearer enters the Olympic stadium in the host city. Their identity is usually kept secret until the last moment. The final torchbearer is usually an Olympic athlete, sports figure, or an individual who has made a very special contribution to society. That individual runs around the stadium track once, then lights the Olympic cauldron, signaling the official start of the Olympic Games.  When the competition ends about two weeks later, the flame is extinguished at the Closing Ceremony, marking the end of the Games.

As believers, we carry the Torch of Jesus.  Passed from generation to generation, we hold it today preparing to pass it tomorrow.   As COVID 19 paralyzes the world, we as believers must continue to carry the torch of Christ and hope.

The Psalmist says, “We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.” 

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Hebrews 12:1.