Late in his life, Henri Nouwen, the great Catholic writer on matters of spiritual life, befriended a group of South African Trapeze artists called, “The Flying Rodleighs.” Once when discussing the role between the “flyer” and the “catcher”, the troop leader said to him, “The worst thing the flyer can do is to try to catch the catcher. I am not supposed to catch Joe. It’s Joe’s task to catch me.” It is this experience of utter surrender that is the deeply necessary act of trust that made trapeze flying work.
Deep surrender is an ever present and vital part of life and faith. We give ourselves up to certain inevitabilities, such as aging. We surrender our sense that we can keep our children young, even when we wish we could. We surrender our sense that we can control the events of our lives, and lean into the flow of life as it is presented to us.
In the Gospels, we read that Jesus taught his disciples that following him would mean counting the cost of things they would need to surrender. In the Epistles, we read that the Apostle Paul urged a slaveowner named Philemon to surrender his legal right to punish a runaway slave. Rather, Paul said, he could welcome him back, and embrace the refuge as a beloved sibling. Surrender, it turns out, is not always a term describing the giving up to a higher power, but relinquishing something only to receive something more empowering.
We’ll talk about this in church on Sunday, as the sermon is titled, “Powerful Surrender: Giving What You Cannot Keep.” The sermon arises from Philemon 1: 1-21, and Luke 14: 25-33. We will have a solo by Joseph Canter, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs, a moment for children, prayers and hymns.
If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the livestream.