Give Up!

Surrender as a spiritual path to freedom doesn't often "sell" in a consumer culture. The emphasis on moving up, getting more, having more,  doing more,  being more is pervasive. In his book With Open Hands Henri Nouwen tells a story of a woman who so tightly gripped her hand around one small coin it took two people to remove it from her. His book on prayer invites us to let go, give up, surrender as part of our prayer practice. 

When those who are testing and trying to trap Jesus by asking about paying taxes- he offers an alternative path- give to God what is God’s. To allow ourselves to surrender all the every day and ordinary fears and worries and place them into God’s tender loving care is a practice that takes time. God so deeply desires us to rest in God’s grace. In a culture of comparing and competing, seeking to consume more to keep fears and frustrations away the message of Jesus can seem unreasonable. Prayer indeed is a practice, nothing we will ever perfect nor are we meant to perfect it.

After my sermon on giving up a friend shared this quote; “Worries are prayers you don’t want answered”. When we replace our worries with practices of being present, prayer, gratitude, caring for one another, being curious of how we can serve another, compassion practices, reaching out to others asking for their care and comfort, we are set free

Martin Luther put it this way “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess.”- to place our loved ones into the hands of God, to allow God to release and free us from our fears - all of these ways of “giving ourselves to God” of “giving up” living by our own plan, grit and gusto and instead practicing the prayer of “thy will be done” help set us free.