PRAYER MOMENT
Thursday
6 February 2014, a day when we remember the martyrs of Japan at the end
of the 16th century and those killed in Musami, Zimbabwe, on 6
February 1977.
TAKE NOTHING FOR THE JOURNEY
Pause. Be present
as Jesus takes a tour through the villages.
Reading. “He
instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no
haversack, no coppers for their purse.” (Mark
6:7-13).
Reflection. It is
hard for us to hear these words of Jesus, “take nothing for the journey.” We
prepares so carefully for our own journeys. And if it is metaphorical and he is
speaking of the journey of life, the work we are to do, we take years to
prepare. So what is his meaning? It seems to me Jesus is pointing to our
constant habit of relying on accepted ways and expected words. We do things in
tried ways. We use well-worn phrases, what we call clichés. Basically we rely
on ourselves. But the call here is to move from reliance on self to total reliance
on God. That too is easily said. Yet it is something that has to be reflected
on and lived if we are to allow God to work in us and allow his kingdom to
break in on us. Otherwise we are just doing our own thing and we are calling it
God’s will.
Prayer. Lord, what
does it mean, “take nothing for the journey.” You seemed so insistent and I am so
resistant. Teach me what it means, to rely on you.. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment