Pastoral Ponderings
Letting Go
When I began my Sabbatical, I set up my e-mail account in such a way that if anyone tried to email me, they would get a reply message informing them that I was away until the end of August. When I did this, it originally felt like a way to protect my time of Sabbath rest from anyone who might try and reach out with a ministry need, perhaps unaware that I was away. However, once I started my Sabbath, I quickly realized that doing this was a necessary step for me to let go.
The urge to “keep up” with what was happening at Linville Creek was stronger than I had anticipated and it took time to let go even though I knew it was only temporary. Perhaps the urge was even deeper than wanting to stay informed, perhaps what I was really struggling to give up was control.
This experience had me reflecting on what we mean as people of faith when we say we surrender things to God. We like to have a degree of control, we like to have a plan, we like to be informed and yet, sometimes it is only by letting go that we find peace, rest, or become aware of the presence of God.
I’m reminded of when in 1 Samuel the Hebrew people come to the prophet Samuel and demand a King. They wanted a King because other nations had a King and because it felt like having a Kingdom would provide the people with power, stability, and control. God knew the people would trust their king rather than their God, but God granted this dubious form of control – and hardly a single king used it well.
Faith calls us into a somewhat awkward place; we recognize that a certain level of control, of having plans is good and something that God desires for us. Yet we recognize that life is remarkably, fearfully out of our hands. It can be both comforting to know that one more infinitely capable than we are is in control of all things and feel completely unsatisfactory to answer all of life’s problems with a “let go and let God” mentality.
Faith is about finding that balance – it is about both taking on and letting go. Faith requires both action and rest – Jesus taught, healed, traveled, called out injustice, but Jesus also retreated into the mountains to pray, recharge, and find clarity. Surrendering our concerns, our problems, our difficulties to God is not about handing all things to God and saying, “you do it!” Surrendering to God is about taking the time to dwell in God’s presence so we might better know what our God would have us do and what or God would have us let go.
May we each learn how to surrender our concerns, our worries, our very lives to God. Amen.
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- Pastor Nathan