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Up-to-the-minute jumping-off points for sermons, linking the reading to the latest news and global issues

Learning to let go

The call of God is immediate, and we only have now to respond (Luke 9.62).

Context

 

Ideas for sermons or interactive talks

Jesus often uses paradox to explain the life of faith, e.g., ‘Whoever would save his/her life shall lose it.’ (Matthew 16.25). Sometimes, the willingness to have life in all its fullness means the willingness to let go of our very existence (see the second example above). Clinging to the past, maintaining a public image, trying to preserve youthful looks, etc. are all ultimately doomed to fail. We only have the eternal now. And this is where we encounter God and hear God’s voice leading us forward. Are we too distracted to listen?

Unlike the biblical prophets who were called for a specific role or time we, in the institutional church, call/ordain people for life – a life which includes a stipend, housing and a pension – conveniently ignoring statements such as ‘the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ How does this dull the prophetic edge to modern ministry and the immediacy of God’s calling?

Whatever we are living for is at the same time the very thing(s) we are willing to die for, as each passing day is one less to be lived. A parishioner once said to me, ‘I want to make enough money so that I can do what you do [serve God/others].’ That was about 35 years ago. It never happened, so I suppose he never reached the elusive ‘enough money’. How many passages in the four Gospels can you think of in which Jesus addresses the problem of having ‘enough’? Ultimately, we must let go of everything – including earthly life itself – to gain full life in God’s eternal presence.

I once preached a sermon entitled ‘The Bad News of Jesus Christ.’ In it I cited passages such as today’s ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ There are many other such difficult passages, such as: ‘The gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.’ (Matthew 7.14) The point is that following Mr. Jesus is in fact a life of self-sacrifice to a cause greater than ourselves. It is a ‘taking up the cross’ daily. It’s no wonder we try to tame this troublemaker from Nazareth into ‘Gentle Jesus meek and mild…’.

 

Questions for discussion

  • How much of institutional church life (time, human resources and money) is dedicated to the care and feeding of clergy, as opposed to serving humanity and addressing society’s ills?
  • Has preservation of the institutional church replaced its prophetic/servant calling?
  • How does your church’s mission budget stack up against all other expenses? Are you comfortable with that?
  • Søren Kierkegaard was fond of saying that, in order for us to appropriate something new, something old must first be got rid of. How do you see this dictum being applied in personal spirituality as well as in corporate church?

Revd Dr Jack Lawson is a freelance writer and author of five novels, Doing Time, No Good Deed, Criminal Justice, The Woods and Dirty Business. Follow the links for more information, or visit his blog.

 

Check-in

Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues for young people

At first read, Jesus’ words in Luke seem pretty insensitive. Requests from would-be followers to first bury their dad and say goodbye to their family seem completely reasonable. So Jesus’ response that the dead should bury their own dead and that saying goodbye to your family makes you not fit for purpose sounds a little harsh.

But here’s the thing… the task that Jesus was calling these disciples to was important and urgent. The state of the world depended on it. There were others that could take care of funeral arrangements and perhaps Jesus knew that the man wanting to say goodbye was just stalling for time. Perhaps Jesus knew that, if he returned to his family, he’d never leave.

Fast forward 2,000 years and the world, once again, seems dependent on the actions that we will or won’t take – actions that are important and urgent.

Extreme weather, undeniably linked to climate change, is bringing increased flooding, droughts and natural disasters around the globe. The number of people displaced by war, violence and human rights violations stands at the highest number since records began and, both in the UK and around the world, food insecurity is surging.

But we can make a difference in all of these situations – if we take important and urgent action now.

Jesus wasn't saying that family and friends aren’t important. But might we be succumbing to the temptation to switch off and focus on our small, contained, 'safe' world with its day-to-day, surface activities, rather than acting on what’s really important?

Lucy Carman is a freelance writer and editor based near Manchester.

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