Ultramarathon

Photo by Anıl Karakaya

The experience of finishing an ultra marathon is not a singular event. It is a process that begins many months or even years ahead of time. Many Ethiopians understand this - they are a country rich in world class long distance runners. You can’t just show up the day of the race, start running and expect to finish. You’ve got to train and prepare, eat and hydrate throughout the run, and ideally you won’t run alone.

Many comedians (most famously Gary Owen) have written jokes about how long black church can be. You walk in on a Sunday morning and leave on a Tuesday afternoon. But if you think black church is long….. hooo boy, let me introduce you to Ethiopian church. It is the ultramarathon of church services. Fellowship lunch is less of a meal and more of an aid station, where friendly volunteers hand out bottles of water and encourage you to press on. You’ve got to stay hydrated to finish this long distance event, and don’t let your electrolytes become unbalanced.

To a western mind “ultra marathon” church service has a negative connotation, it is inconceivable. How can you go to church ALL DAY? Start right after breakfast and go until it’s time for bed? Maybe this is not our event, after all we’re not the country known for its long distance runners. No, those of us who go at all prefer the 5K Fun Run (a 1 hour service) or even better the 100M Dash (half watching on the livestream while we drink our coffee at home).

It’s foreign, it’s a different event all together. But could this be closer to those gatherings of the early church? The ones where little kids fell out of windows because Paul was preaching late into the night?

It is long and slow, there is no sense of “church shopping” here. You cant pop in to scope the place out. But at this pace there is space and time for connection, real room is created for true hospitality. By the end the day we had become friends with the pastor and his wife (they are co-lead pastors like Laurie and I), and their generous family. We had eaten three meals and drank copious buna (coffee). Our hearts felt full.

Of course like any ultra, there was a long road to getting here. We arrived in Hawassa the day before yesterday and took (in this order) - a tuk tuk, a van, a bus, a truck, and sat in the back of a truck for the final leg - to reach the starting line. Every stage was a series of interpersonal negotiations , there is no self-checkout line in Ethiopia. But this is also a blessing.

Everyone talks to strangers here like they’ve known them for years or they’re running into a distant cousin. There doesn’t seem to be as much personal space, something we claim to love but makes our daily lives just a little more lonely. We are so often running alone.

There were also surprises along the course. The night before the church service we arrived at our guest house around midnight. We met with the pastor and he said I would preach the sermon that next day. I only had an hour to prepare the next morning, but luckily I had something in my back pocket. At lunch he said the sermon was good, so he would have me preach again in the afternoon. Just 35-45 minutes, nothing too lengthy please.

Put on the spot, I spoke on Luke chapter 8, The Parable of the Sower. I talked about the things I’d seen that day walking around with church friends: the sugar cane, the maize, coffee and banana trees. These people are farmers, they know far more about soil than I ever will, but the parable is still clear. If you plant a certain seed you expect a certain crop to grow and eventually produce fruit. But you’ve got to prepare the soil to make it happen. This is the Christian life in essence.

You can sign up to run an ultra but that doesn’t mean you’ll finish. You can’t just show up the day of the race and start running. You’ve got to train and prepare, eat and hydrate throughout the run, and ideally you won’t run alone.