PRAYER MOMENT                                                                                    

A time to choose

A soldier, wounded in the First World War wrote to his family from his hospital bed, “war is aptly described by a young officer in the Coldstreams as ‘a month’s intensive boredom punctuated by moments of abject terror.’ It is a really good description …” Those of us who have never been in war can nod our heads and say it must indeed be like that, but we have no experience of such moments of abject terror.  Except, that is, for the moments we face where we have to make a decision. To decide on a major change in our life – or to have one thrust upon us against our will – can indeed be frightening.

Decisions can be about straining for victory or accepting defeat. To suddenly lose our health or our money or our skill takes some handling. Maybe the great tennis player Roger Federer is losing his hold over the game. We cheered him on his way up. It would be nice if we could support him on his way down. But whatever the situation, we all face times of decision. I am always moved by the words in Luke’s gospel where we are told ‘Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem’ (9:51). Here was defeat - and victory.  There is an on-going pattern in his ministry and then suddenly he decides to take the road to the city where he knows rejection and death await him.

It was not the first time he had made a dramatic move: he had no doubt been getting along nicely in Nazareth working as a craftsman, and then suddenly he decides to leave the security of his family and home and set out for the Jordan and all that followed.  Now he is making an even tougher decision – to go to Jerusalem. As we think of these moments we can also reflect on our own decisions, the ones we make and maybe the ones we avoid. There is no doubt that the peak experience for a human being is to make choices.

Countless people can’t make free choices. They are forced by circumstances to follow the only path life offers them; on the land, in a factory or even in who they marry and in what they believe. Insofar as choice is denied life is less human. If you listen to young people anywhere in the world they will tell you they want to be able to choose their life. But most can’t. Slavery is no longer openly practiced but it is still very real.

This Sunday in many churches we will hear those words, ‘he set his face towards Jerusalem.’ We will also read of Elisha leaving his oxen and following Elijah. Every time someone makes a tough choice he or she opens the door for others to do the same. History has been changed by individuals making choices, sometimes terrifying ones, and whole peoples benefit. We are all at the bedside of Nelson Mandela this week-end. What we revere in this man is his resolution, made at a moment in history and lived out over decades.

But when is the favourable time to make a decision? Perhaps the time is now.

30 June 2013   13^th Sunday of year C

I Kings 19:16-21         Gal 5:1, 13-18             Luke 9:51-62