It’s fitting that we close our meditations on the 2024 Olympics the same way we closed the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021), with the Fiji Olympic Team singing. There may have been those at the executive level that wanted all mention of religion stifled, but that didn’t stop the Fiji team from conducting morning worship services in Olympic Village.

A Christianity Today (CT) article, “Yes, Fiji Olympians Are Singing Hymns,” opens this way:

Viral videos of the Fijian Olympic team singing in Paris show a congregation of athletes raising their voices in four-part harmony, as if they had been rehearsing in addition to training for the games. In several videos, the group is shown singing the Fijian hymn “Mo Ravi Vei Jisu” (“Draw Close to Jesus”). One video on TikTok has over 3 million views and 660,000 likes.

The CT article is worth the read in its entirety, and it’s hard to pick out just a few snippets, but here are some of the themes:

For many Fijians, especially Fijian Christians, community singing is built into the rhythm of everyday life…Many of the athletes in the Fijian coalition have likely been singing in four-part harmony since they were very young…Starting with family devotions in the home, Fijian children in Christian families grow up hearing harmony and learn to participate...

This tradition…is one that Fijian Christians carefully cultivate and preserve. The four-part harmony we hear in those viral videos is the result of generations of teaching and practice...

Singing is an embodiment of interconnection with the world, with each other, and with God…In Scripture, we see these images of trees clapping their hands, of rocks crying out. In some ways, we in the West have written off those images as hyperbole and metaphor…The physicality of singing and its effects on a congregation are sometimes lost in worship settings where the sound of a band drowns out the voices in the room. In the US, less than 20 percent of the population regularly sings in a choir, so many American Christians have lost touch with what it feels like to be in a vibrant singing community. [Note: I wrote about a dearth of singing in some of our churches back in 2019: Enter His Presence with Singing!]

 …The Fijian Olympic team’s singing in Paris demonstrates the centrality of singing to Fijian cultural identity…The Fijian rugby team often sings before or after a match, not because they want to make an evangelistic demonstration but because it’s just part of who they are. When there is singing in rugby, for example, whether for a loss or a win,…they sing because it involves their whole life, their whole community, their whole being.

Very inspiring, nearly as inspiring as the athletic events themselves. Thanks to the Fijian Olympic Team for spreading joy through music. FYI, the rugby team earned a silver medal so they can sing AND excel in sports!

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100.1, 2, ESV)

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. (Psalm 146.1, 2, ESV)

P.S. Back on August 2, I wrote about the Brazilian surfer pointing to Jesus in an iconic photo. Here’s a follow-up article on that Christian witness.