Sunday, May 04, 2008

Letting go ...

(Excuse the presumptuousness of this, but I thought it might be fun to pretend to be Jesus for a moment...)
Dear Disciples,
It's time you let go. That's why I left you - you know, as you described it, how I 'ascended into heaven', which I guess was your way of handling how I'm there but not there ... Anyway, it's a really important thing for you to appreciate: that discipleship involves letting go; that following me involves not holding on to me; that learning from me involves beginning to teach each other. After all, I never wanted you to be totally dependent on me - though I've clearly given you resources, symbolic actions, and I've nurtured in you distinctive kinds of attitudes - political strategies, in terms of including the excluded, being in solidarity with the least and the last - and it's not always been easy. But now, now you must get on with it, you must live it, you must be my witnesses, carry on the message, demonstrate God's kingdom ... You must 'let go' of things being just as you want them, or other people being as you perceive them, and you must learn to see with new eyes, to hear with renewable ears, to speak with the words of those who are not usually heard, letting go of security, self-preservation, a concern with your own desires, daring to believe instead that a new world is created - or the old is renewed - only if you let go, not only of me as you would 'own' me, but of each other, and of the Gospel, letting go of it that you might learn to receive it again and again, from the most unexpected people ... so ... let go!
love
Jesus.
(again, excuse the presumptuousness, as I try to let go of any pretensions!)