Giving our all

We pray at the end of our Eucharistic services to send us out as a "living sacrifice" into the world. I wonder what you think a sacrifice is in your life. We can think of anything that may be a sacrifice but most of us think of something that would in reality only inconvenience ourselves. To make a sacrifice is to make sacred that which you do. Quite often it may mean a giving up of something or at least entail some sort of real hardship for and in our lives. However, I suspect that it would not be as great a sacrifice that Abraham was preparing to make (Gen. 22.1-14), although in some circumstances it may entail an equal amount of heartache. Looking at the Jewish sources of interpretation of this passage, the Akedah test, (and there are many) there is a suggestion of inner paradox being played out (see Zornberg for example). How much do we give to God and how much do we give to ourselves? We often want to protect what we give rather than give to God as a sacrifice. We do not actually sacrifice but rather appease our own sense of worth in what we do.

We are often eager to complain about the sacrifices that we do make when looked at on a greater scale. The sacrifice we brag about is nothing more than an inconvenience in our lives. Abraham walked in the way of God, much as Christ did in a later age, and in doing so he is portrayed as the Father of the faith, not only Jewish but also ultimately the Christian faith. Yet, looking at the Jewish sources of interpretation there is an interesting back story to this passage. The possibility is that in walking in the steps of God and celebrating  God's presence while spreading the "good news" of God's presence in his life he neglected the simplicity of sacrifice after his son was born. He gave his all towards being a father and relinquished his giving of all to God. It is this that requires God to test Abraham. This is a dimension of Abraham's journey both inwardly and outwardly as he celebrates the presence of his son. Does the mere movement towards family suggest that ultimately we are moving away from God and forgetting to live up to God's requirement to sacrifice? Perhaps, this is where we are living in the current age. We do not see the purpose of "sacrificing" our time in praise and thanksgiving to God when we have family and lives to live. The modern turn allows us time for those things that encourage our happiness which in turns allows us to turn a blind eye to the injustices of the world. This extends to the term of "sacrificial" giving and other "sacrificial" things we do. The modern state has allowed us to sit back and relax in terms of our own personal sacrifices, which in turn has allowed us to sit back and relax in terms of the requirements of God.

We forget the sacrifice and continue to ignore the purpose.

In this we are often governed by a Law of Tradition. The reasoning goes somewhat like this, "We have always ... and that is the way we will continue to do ...". You can fill in the spaces with whatsoever you like that covers any form of sacrifice. Unless we hear otherwise tradition is tantamount to having come from God. We can always find an excuse for not doing what sacrifice asks us to do and this is always easier than actually making the committed sacrifice. In this Paul has it right in Romans (6: 12-13) if we are to label ourselves as followers of Christ. Christ sacrificed himself for us and we are obligated by faith to do likewise as we follow in God's way of love. All love demands sacrifice to a greater degree than we allow. Any family knows that in order for the family to grow certain things have to be let go, we term this a sacrifice but often it is know more than disallowing certain luxuries. However, on occasion it is a large sacrifice of everything that is normal for the household. In coming to terms with the enormity of the sacrifice we come to understand the harsh reality of sacrifice and can no longer consider the simple things we give up as a sacrifice. If we begin to really understand what it means to sacrifice in a simple thing like family, can we who dwell in Christ and accept the hospitality of Christ, not sacrifice for God. It is easy to say that we will become a living sacrifice at the end of each service in which we receive the hospitality of God at the communion table, a reminder of a greater sacrifice then we are able to give, but not so easily translated into our common Christian life. This is applicable to all of us not just a few. A real sacrifice means something that is more than uncomfortable or prosaic, it means that it will hurt us and we do not want to let that happen in our comfortable lives and thus we turn from God.