Our worship this Sunday will be rooted in John 12.20-33 and the ministry of Lorenza Andrade Smith
Lorenza Andrade Smith is a United Methodist Pastor who asked her Bishop to appoint her to a ministry on the streets. She chose to take a leave of absence from her church and conference and to renounce all of her possessions, including her home, her car and her salary. In her own words: “I am taking a vow of poverty, and I am dedicating myself to learn to live on the street for three years to understand the plight of the homeless and the needy.”
What would it take for you to make a similar choice?
In part John 12 reads: “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, God will honor.”
“In our experience of the Crucifixion, we fully confront the anxiety of death, meaninglessness, and guilt that the Church so often attempts to protect us from. A confrontation that must happen if we are to ever enter into the new life described in the Gospels as Resurrection. For Resurrection life is not some turning away from the experience of death that we find in the event of Crucifixion but rather describes a way of living in its very midst and finding there a way of truly affirming life.”
(from Insurrection by Peter Rollins)
Lorenza Andrade Smith calls each of us to trust God and as the Gospel of John records, this is troubling news for our souls. In what way do you turn away from what you know God longs for your life? How might your trust in God break you open into a new way of life? What (if anything) are you ready to share about this with your Kitchen Table so that you might be held accountable in a new way?
2 Comments
Ashley Symons
Throughout the past few weeks, I’ve come to realize that my ‘broken open’ experience is going to have to happen in baby steps. I’ve been running from God’s love for years and I still have trouble accepting it. I see it, but I turn away. At this point in my life, I feel like God is longing for me to embrace the grace I’ve been given. Until I stop shutting God out, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make any radical changes in my life. Although, to be honest, I think truly accepting God’s love is a pretty radical change.
Delilah Ann (@TheeDelilah)
@Ashley, I believe that accepting God’s love is VERY radical. And if I’m being authentic – it’s a battle for me, too. Even if I accept it today – tomorrow is often another struggle.
The writer of the Gospel of John knew what he or she was talking about. Our souls were troubled in our Kitchen Table last night. We saw so many things that we needed to do or turn to, but for some reason we are not trusting God enough to be “broken open”.
I am truly scared to be broken open. I’m scared that it will lead to leaving family behind, like the disciples leaving their fathers. Or I’ll be asked hard questions to which I’ll have wrong answers, like Peter denying Jesus. I’m worried that I’ll go hungry, or become a prisoner like many of Jesus’ followers. I have faith, that God will not abandon me if all that were to happen, but I don’t trust myself enough to trust God fully – which probably doesn’t make sense.
I also worry – that I am never certain about what God longs for in my life – and if I do make a decision to “lose my life” that I will do it wrong.
And then I’m comforted, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. -Proverbs 16:9” In whatever direction I go, whatever decision I make, God will go with me.