Today is the first of three sermons on a topic that you don’t hear talked about in church very often — the link between spiritual fitness and physical fitness.. This has been a passion of mine since I attended a most unusual worship service in New York City several Novembers ago.

Early one Sunday morning, I was among several hundred people crowded into a large tent for prayers, singing, Scripture-reading and Holy Communion. We were a diverse group — in age, race and denomination — full of enthusiasm and nervous energy. But unlike your average Sunday morning churchgoers, we were all dressed in running clothes. The preacher encouraged us to pray for everyone we passed on the course that morning, and for everyone who passed us. Then we went out and ran 26.2 miles.

This was not your normal after-church activity.

That interdenominational worship service was held before the start of the New York City Marathon, and it served as a wake-up call for me. For years, I had focused my Christian ministry on the soul, and I had seen the flesh as somehow less important. But that morning I caught sight of a movement that is seeking to reclaim an ancient truth: The truth that spirituality involves more than just the spirit — it also includes the body.

Look around our country, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The Baptist church up the street from my home is offering “Christian Yoga," which presents elements of the Hindu practice of yoga in an intentionally Christ-centered setting. Other churches feature weight-loss classes with names like “Jesus Is the Weigh" — not spelled W-A-Y, as you’d expect, but W-E-I-G-H. Book publishers are turning out titles such as The Maker's Diet, outlining a “Biblically correct" eating plan, and Honoring the Body. While some of this is just a fad, I believe it reflects a very positive development in religious thought. After 2,000 years of being largely separated, body and spirit are finally coming back together.

But what does all this have to do with our relationship with Jesus? That’s a question that I’m sure many of you are asking. When you read the New Testament, you can’t help but notice that Jesus sees the body as a good gift of God, and he rejoices in the pleasures of touch and taste. Jesus comes on the scene in the Gospel of Mark as a man of action: curing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing a leper, and healing a paralytic — clearly, he cares deeply about the health of human bodies (2:13-19).

Jesus goes around saving people from illness, destruction and death, and then at the very end of his ministry he gives us the gift of his very own body, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26). He doesn’t say this is my mind, or this is my spirit — he says, this is my body. From the very beginning, Christianity has taken seriously the fact that God came to earth in a human body — “the Word became flesh and lived among us," says the Gospel of John (1:14). This means that there is something good and important about our human flesh.

The bottom line is that Christian spirituality involves both spirit and body. Because of this, both our worship on Sunday morning and our work-outs throughout the week are critical elements in a life of health and spiritual growth. God has given each of us the gift of a body, and he wants us to take good care of this gift. In addition, the apostle Paul teaches that our body is nothing less than the “temple of the Holy Spirit," and therefore we are to glorify God in our body.

But are we doing it? Are we caring for this gift? Are we glorifying God in it?

Or are we neglecting this gift, and dishonoring God?

I’m convinced that we can all do a better job of caring for the gift of our body, and glorifying God in it. To do this, I want spend three Sundays introducing you to “The Fitness Trinity," which has been devised by my friend Vik Khanna, an exercise coach and health educator. Some of you have gotten to know Vik through the faith and fitness program we offered together last year. I’m happy to report that Vik will be visiting us again, after worship on Sunday, March 18, to answer your questions about The Fitness Trinity and follow up with participants in last year’s program.

The Fitness Trinity is simple, memorable, and, I believe, quite biblical. Like the Holy Trinity of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Fitness Trinity cannot be found in the Bible, but it is a formulation that is true to the Bible.

You might be surprised to learn that the word "Trinity" never appears in the Bible. But almost every Christian has come to accept that God is, in fact, a Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is nothing wrong with building new understandings on the foundation of Holy Scripture.

The Fitness Trinity consists of three parts: Endurance exercise, strength training, and good nutrition. Each has an important role to play in our physical and spiritual health.

Today, I want to talk about endurance exercise. This is any exercise that puts you into motion and requires you to use the biggest muscles in your body — your legs, hips, and rear end. Endurance exercise can include walking, running, or riding a bike, but it should be done vigorously, for at least 30 minutes at a time, and at least 3 times per week.

Since I turned 40 back in the year 2000, I’ve been doing a lot of running. I had never been a runner back in high school, and I avoided it pretty successfully during my young adult years. Then a friend challenged me, on my 40th birthday, to join him in running the Marine Corps Marathon. I thought he was crazy.

The marathon was still six months away, however, and my friend convinced me that I could train for it in that amount of time. I started out slowly … very slowly. I would go out and exercise for an hour at a time — running for 3 minutes, walking for 7, running for 3 minutes, walking for 7. Three minutes of running at a time was about all I could endure. But the next week, I ran for 4 minutes and walked for 6, ran for 4 minutes and walked for 6. After seven weeks of training in this way, I made it to the point where I could run for a full hour.

That was the key to my ability to complete a marathon — starting slowly, and building up my running time … one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours. I would sometimes let the words from today’s passage from Hebrews cycle through my mind, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2). Over the years, my marathon training has become a running meditation for me, and I have been amazed by the clarity of thought — along with the occasional agony of the body — that I experience during my workouts. This exercise cuts through the clutter of life and offers the gift of simplicity — if only for a few hours a week. There are no phones to answer, no bills to pay, no sermons to write — only the path that lies ahead. I have come to love the freedom that running provides me to think and dream and pray and problem-solve, and I find myself becoming tense and irritable when the opportunity to exercise is taken away from me.

Long runs with church members have led to some heart-to-heart conversations that might not have occurred at any other time, and I have found myself growing closer to these men and women through the pursuit of shared athletic goals. Mike Watson once led me up Sugerloaf Mountain in a grueling training run. He says that he appreciates the chance that running gives him to “be thankful for the nature God gave us and the ability we have to get out and move about."

So, what kind of endurance exercise is right for you? You might want to start with walking, since Jesus was a walking man. Throughout the gospels, we read of Jesus traveling by foot from town to town — preaching, teaching, healing, and inviting people to follow him. Walking is not only an effective method of transportation, it is also an excellent opportunity to socialize, talk, think, and pray. It creates and opportunity for us to exercise not only our bodies, but also our spirits. From the time of Jesus until today, walking has been an activity that clears the mind and expands the soul.

Walking is the baseline on which every aspect of good health is built, including strength training and good nutrition. So my challenge for you is to go home from this service of worship and get active. Get a calendar and make a minimum of three exercise appointments with yourself for next week. In each appointment space, write the word WALK, in bold letters. That will be your exercise goal for each week: at least three walks of no less than 30 minutes in length.

You should walk at a pace that allows you to just barely hold a conversation with another person. Walking with a partner is a great opportunity to practice some spiritual direction through companionship. Or, if you are alone, you should be able to recite a brief poem, Scripture passage, or some other saying of about 20 words. The passage I use when I am running is just about perfect in length: “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Walking will raise your heart rate, and make your cardiovascular system stronger and more efficient. It will also burn calories, which will help you lose weight and control it better. Walking has a fluid, comfortable movement that many of us can do day after day, and this consistent form of activity is critical for long-term health and vitality.

The word Lent means springtime, and as we enter this season of Lent we are reminded that the cold of winter is about to be replaced by the warmth of spring. My challenge to you is to use this season to get out and move around. If you are just getting started, make a series of walking appointments with yourself, and then keep them. If you already have a routine of running or biking, make sure that you stick to your schedule. Every one of us should be practicing some form of endurance exercise, at least three times a week. It is an important aspect of maintaining the health of our bodies, bodies that are nothing less than the temple of the Holy Spirit.

“Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees," says the letter to the Hebrews. “Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed" (vv. 12-13). Jesus sees your body as a good gift of God, and he wants you to get your flesh and your spirit back together. He wants you to strengthen yourself, both physically and spiritually, so that you will have the endurance you need to face the challenges of each day.

The only way for us to get stronger is to put our muscles to work. So let’s begin this process by committing ourselves to a program of endurance exercise, whether we walk or run or bike. And as we “run with perseverance the race that is set before us," let’s keep our eyes on Jesus, “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (vv. 1-2). Jesus is running ahead of us, cheering us on, in the race that leads to everlasting life. Amen.