Surrender

(I recently had the opportunity to share an inspirational talk called “Surrender.” A slightly modified version follows.)


In the past, I’ve spoken about topics that I’ve really made my own. But today, I’m talking about a topic that is fairly new territory for me…something I’m just beginning to learn about. Not too long ago, I walked by the display of new books at the library and this one jumped out at me: Surrender! The Life Changing Power of Doing God’s Will by Father Larry Richards. Now I’m surprised I didn’t turn around and run out the door right then and there because “Surrender” is a word I really haven’t liked much. But for some reason, this book had me waving a white flag from the get-go. Much to my surprise, I checked it out and brought it home.

Has anyone else felt uneasy about the word “surrender”? To me it has often had the negative implications of losing or giving up. Here’s one definition of “surrender” I found on dictionary.com: “to yield (something) to the possession or power of another.” So how about “to yield [one’s life] to the power of [God]? Now that’s a definition I can live with. In fact, I’ve wondered if I brought the book home because of its positive subtitle: “The Life-Changing Power of Doing God’s Will.” I’d sure like to experience more of the “life-changing power” of God in my life. Wouldn’t you? The book’s chapter titles offered some great promises too:

• Surrender and Go to Heaven!
• Surrender and Be Free!
• Surrender and Be an Icon of Jesus! (more on that one later)
• Surrender and Hear God’s Voice!
• Surrender and Discover God’s Will!
• Surrender and Live God’s Will!

This type of surrender sure sounds like a win-win, all around good situation to me. So I decided to give the book a go. However, one of the first things I had to surrender is Protestant prejudice about reading a book by a Catholic priest. When I was in Middle School, my family moved next door to a Catholic family who not only had a daughter my age, but they had horses too. However, because of cultural paradigms, my mom wouldn’t let us be friends. She was concerned that I might in turn meet this girl’s friends and become romantically involved with a Catholic…with someone whose religious doctrines and practices she perceived as being so different from my own. So, as I began reading the book, I made a sincere effort to not let theological or cultural differences keep me from hearing the spirit and heart of Fr. Richards’ message. The book ended up resonating with me deeply. I realized that several aspects of surrendering were already part of my prayer practice, and now I also am making a conscious effort to incorporate several new ideas from the book into my life. I’m not suggesting that everyone go out and read this book. It just happened to be the right book at the right time for me; and just the very act of reading it helped me learn that surrender requires listening to God with an open heart.

As we go forward today, I encourage you to keep your heart and thought open and see what new insights God might have for you on this topic. What might surrender look like in your life right now? What outgrown beliefs can you let go of, and what new directions and ideas are begging to be accepted?

Over the past month, I’ve found the concept of surrender popping up all over the place. Biblical examples of the life-changing power of surrender are abundant. For example there was Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac but then also to change course when God directed him otherwise. There was Moses’ agreeing to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt even though he was slow of speech, and of course, Jesus’ facing of the crucifixion and the poignant words he uttered in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Thy will be done.” There is probably no better example of complete surrender than Jesus. And then there is Saul who had persecuted Christians, but when he surrendered to the calling of the Christ was transformed, and as Paul became one of the major players in establishing early Christian churches and communities. One of the Biblical characters that I’ve enjoyed thinking about lately is Ananias, a key figure in Paul’s story. When Jesus appeared to Saul, Saul was made blind, and Ananias was given the task of healing him. Here’s Ananias’ story as told in The Message (Acts 9:10-19):

There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: "Ananias." "Yes, Master?" he answered. “Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He's there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”  Ananias protested, "Master, you can't be serious. Everybody's talking about this man and the terrible things he's been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he's shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us."  But the Master said, "Don't argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to non-Jews and kings and Jews…."  So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, "Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul's eyes—he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized, and sat down with them to a hearty meal.

Did you catch the “Ananias protested” part? Jesus’ followers hadn’t had it easy. They had been practicing and spreading their faith, but in many ways they also had just been trying to stay alive and not be put in jail or stoned to death, and now Ananias was being asked to not just go see the guy behind all the terror, but to heal him. Ananias had to totally surrender his own sense of who Saul was as well as concern for personal safety. Ananias’ act of surrender took humility, great forgiveness, and a lot of courage.

Surrender means having courage and trusting that our loving God knows what He’s doing. It requires facing fears with real trust in God’s presence and His control over the outcome of our lives. Sometimes what God tells us to do may not make sense, but He will give us the courage, clarity, and strength necessary to do His will, and His will is always good.

I recently was listening to the radio and heard “Whatever You’re Doing” by Sanctus Real. I think it does a wonderful job of capturing the heart of surrender and perhaps some of what Saul and Ananias might have been thinking and feeling as they faced their encounter with each other. Perhaps you’ve had some of these feelings too. (Here’s a link to the song and lyrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B-udGxwLV0.)

“It feels like chaos, but somehow there’s peace.” That’s my favorite line. My husband and I were talking about Ananias recently and Mike said, “I don’t think this guy went in there shaking in his boots (or sandals). I think he went in with confidence that nothing could stand against God and his Christ…nothing!” But in the middle of it all, these Bible characters don’t know how their stories end. In another thought provoking book I’ve read this year, I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church, Paul Nixon describes an apostolic life (both past and present) as “anything but settled,” but that’s OK. Surrender sometimes means being OK with unsettled for a while. But not having all the answers in a given moment doesn’t need to mean a lack of peace when you understand that God is at work doing “something heavenly.” “It feels like chaos, but somehow there’s peace.” God gives us peace.

My church’s Covenant talks about striving together to: “Be Spirit-saturated, surrendering to the Holy Spirit in everything we do, as the condition through which we more effectively accomplish our practice of spirituality. This includes repenting of self-centeredness and surrendering to the new birth promised through the Comforter, the Holy Spirit.” What really jumped out at me is that surrender goes hand in hand with repenting of self-centeredness. Or in other words, surrender is about love.

You may remember that one of the chapter titles in Larry Richards’ book is “Surrender and Be an Icon for Jesus!” Here’s an example of what he means. I really appreciate the spirit of his message. Richards writes:

I love the story of the man who was captured in World War II and thrown in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. He was treated badly, but not as badly as another guy, a Japanese who was trying to help Americans. The captors tortured the Japanese man every day and deprived him of food. Every day, he would be thrown into the same cell as the American, and every day the American would take his own food and give it to the Japanese man and try to heal his wounds as best as possible.  One day they had tortured the Japanese man so badly that when they threw him back in the cell with the American, the American knew that he was going to die. So he knelt next to him, and said, 'You know, you are probably going to die tonight. But you don't have to be afraid. If you just give your life to Jesus you will live forever.'  You know what the Japanese man said to the American? He said, 'If Jesus is anything like you, I can't wait to meet him.'  Could people say that about us?…Could they say, “If Jesus Christ is anything like you, I can’t wait to meet him?” (pages 91-92)

Good question. To be an icon of Jesus, we need to surrender or let a little of self die each day, so that when people look at us they see the Christ. Perhaps what I appreciated most about Father Richards’ book is that it helped me see that surrendering doesn’t always have to be a big momentous thing, it can be a moment by moment, day by day practice…a practice God helps us with.

The Covenant sentences we looked at talks about surrendering to the new birth. Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Christian Science church writes, “The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love.” (Miscellaneous Writings 15:13)

I have one more example of surrender for you. It’s from a talk on by Oprah Winfrey. I think you will enjoy hearing her story. Oprah fell in love with the book “The Color Purple” and was ecstatic to have an opportunity to audition for a part in the movie. The following youtube video tells what happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrWxNJV6jJc (Note: I only used the following clips: 3:21-7:37 & 8:56-9:42).

I love that Oprah made a conscious effort to stick with a posture of surrender until she felt complete peace and also felt like she could bless another person in the role that she wanted so badly. Sometimes surrender is a repeated and/or multistep process requiring persistence. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Keep letting go until you feel trust and peace, until you feel God’s blessing.

So in summary…
• Our dictionary definition led to the idea that “Surrender” means yielding one’s life to the power of God.
• As I found in my approach to reading Larry Richards’ book, it means listening to God with an open heart.
• Like Ananias it means expressing courage and trusting that God knows what He’s doing.
•As Sanctus Real sings, it means not being afraid if things sometimes feel a bit unsettled or chaotic...right there we can also feel peace.
• As the covenant and the story about the man in the prisoner of war camp indicate, surrender is about giving up self-centeredness and actively loving more day by day, moment by moment.
• And as Oprah shared, sometimes letting go takes persistence in order to reap the fullness of the blessing.

(Note: After praying and singing together, we ended with the following benediction.)

May you feel your life molded by the hand of God and your days filled with moments of sweet surrender.