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In touch

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

Limping but surviving

Jacob’s encounter with God brings brokenness but also a new beginning (Genesis 32:30).

 

Context

In the nightmare of wildfires in France and Spain, can we receive the message from the darkness that is requiring us to change?

Sometimes we wrestle with challenges that come from events that are totally beyond our control and remind us of the limits of our own power. Fighting the wildfires in France has been termed a ‘David and Goliath struggle’.

Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey has reignited interest in Homer’s epic poem about the trials and testing faced by Odysseus on his journey home. 

 

Reflection and ideas for a sermon, talk or conversation

“Tell me about a complicated man.” No, not the story of Jacob, but the opening of Emily Watson’s translation of the story of Odysseus. Christopher Nolan’s film ‘The Odyssey’ is breaking box office records in the cinema right now and sales of translations of Homer’s epic poem have risen by around 70%. For all the criticism from Classicists and purists regarding emotional depth, the Homeric values, the place of women and the quality of the language, there is something that is still compelling about the flawed hero’s journey, the hardships he endures along the way, and the self knowledge and suffering that the journey necessitates. Stephen Fry has argued that Odysseus in all his complexity, is a relatable hero for our times. And let’s not forget Penelope’s journey towards resilience and wisdom as she navigates through the challenges of her ten year wait for Odysseus to return.

The wounded hero is an archetype in literature and mythology, revealing lessons about the cost of gaining wisdom, about vulnerability that can lead to new strength and about the need to remain grounded, knowing the limits of our own power. Jacob wrestles in the dark with a shadow and is left with a wound. Having spent his life using trickery and deceit and often running away, his dislocated hip means that he can no longer run. After his encounter with God in the dark, he limps into the dawn of a new day, wounded but at the beginning of a new journey into reconciliation. His trauma is not erased but becomes a source of self knowledge that enables the new chapter of his story to unfold. He is given a new name, Israel, meaning ‘one who struggles with God’ and this new name represents his transformation and his new understanding of God.

Sometimes life brings us up short. We find ourselves facing hardships, trauma, fear or pain that seems to overwhelm us and for which we do not have the resources. Such times bring us face to face with ourselves and our own inadequacy and our need for God. It seems that such pain will limit our ability to be useful in serving God and others. And yet…the bible is full of stories that happen on the other side of failure. Stories where an encounter with God in the midst of the pain leaves us, yes, limping, but also facing into a new day with hope.

Like Jacob, when we stop running, we are all at some point going to face God in the darkness. Indeed some Christian traditions talk about the ‘dark night of the soul’ that nevertheless can lead to a new beginning or deeper knowledge of self and of our calling.

The poet Mary Oliver writes:

Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
that this, too, was a gift.

(The Uses of Sorrow from Thirst Beacon Press 2007)

Sometimes integrating painful experiences is big work and it takes time, other people who can accompany us because they have been there before us (wise guides or Spiritual Companions) and patient work with God who is the ultimate restorer of hope, the God whom we find in bread that is broken to make us whole.

 

Questions for discussion

• Do we put our leaders on a pedestal in ways that are not helpful for them or for ourselves?
• Limping but surviving: how do all of us in ministry or leadership find ways to help others to grow through testing times and to find the face of God in the dark?
• How can we process and integrate our wounds as we go forward so that we can find God’s grace through them?
• What kind of role models do we need to inspire us in our Christian journey and to accompany us as we wrestle with God in life’s darkness?

Diane Craven is a freelance Education and Spirituality consultant and is currently based in the Diocese of York.

 

 

Check-in

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

There has been a lot of sport going on in the world recently. This week we’ve seen the Commonwealth Games kicking off, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua have got back into the ring, and of course there was that little event that’s just finished over in America, Canada, and Mexico!

Because of this you may have missed a record being broken by Josh Kerr. Josh is a British athlete who set a new world record for a 1 mile run at the London Diamond League last weekend - a record that has been held since 1999. Josh completed the mile in three minutes and forty-three seconds!

Talking afterwards Josh said “I nearly lost it there at the end, but I got over the line…Those performances take every part of you, every part of your team. Out there, I am just the body, but there is an incredible amount of work behind the scenes.”

And that is what we get from today’s verse. Jacob had everything taken out of him - the struggle was real but he got it over the line. And all of that wrestling is the behind-the-scenes work that leads to miraculous outcomes.

Your challenge question for today:

Can you make God part of your team to help you get over the line when it comes to struggles in your life?

Lindsay Wright is a freelance writer and designer from Lancashire - www.startswithabrew.co.uk

 

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