Picking up and laying down

Today we have such a storm of opinion running through the Australian public that is becoming increasingly audible and I am certain will become increasingly vitriolic.  The discussion around same sex marriage is hard to divorce oneself from at the present time but it is something that actually needs to be contemplated in terms of what are we prepared to give up to God?  In today's gospel from Matthew Christ is clear when he says "Anyone who wishes to be a follower of mine must renounce self; he must take up his cross and follow me." (Matt. 16.24).

In looking at the marriage debate all I see are those with egos trying to impose their own distorted views of what God wants on others.  They are holding on to their own egos to take the place of God rather than listening to God's heart and following in her steps.  If we call ourselves Christians and are so involved in our own fears our own misunderstandings and our own wants then we have failed in the first step that Christ asks of us.  In the end this way leads us away from obtaining those things that God has prepared for us.  If we look at the burning bush episode (Ex. 3.1-15), which appears to have very little to do with Gay rights or anything else, we can discern through the Judaic interpretations that Moses may have been clinging to other ideals apart from God that were relevant for his time and culture.  In doing so he angered God and started to fall away from the possibilities that God had in store for him.  The ideals which may have been admirable, concern for his older brother's status, in the culture were contrary to what God had in store for him.  It is something that he had to give way to, to give up, his own self perceptions in order to fulfil God's commandments.

Give your life generously. It is not the burden you think it is.

While we can think of the larger picture of the debate around Equality in marriage we also need to draw this understanding to our own views on our faith journey.  For example, one of the things we have difficulty with is giving to God on an individual basis. Moses eventually gives his all to God but as a result of his resistance to God's will he is actually barred from taking on the priestly role later in life.  In giving as God requires us to give we give of our all not halfheartedly as Moses did.  In not taking up the burden that God has set for us we do not reap the full benefits of God's grace as in the same vein as Adam and Eve we deny God's will.  Christ reminds us that we are asked to take up the cross, the burden may be something we think is hard but in fact is light as a result of God's grace.  It is when we make the sacrifice of our beliefs and begin to give ourselves over to what God wants is when we begin to grow.  This means that we need to pray because how can we know God's wishes if we do not talk to God.  It means we have to listen because if we do not listen how can we carry out the things God wishes us to do.  It means that we undertake to do those things that we have heard and commit to a path that God wishes.

So, if we are asked as we are every year to give of ourselves to God by the Church, the parish, the charity, the job, etc what do we do?  Well usually we are flippant and say that it does not concern us or we cannot as we are over committed or... and we make up our excuses.  We do not pray, we do not listen, we do not commit.  We choose for ourselves and not for God.  We turn away from the source of grace in our lives.  We believe that our lives are more important rather than the life that God wishes for us.  In these times of political turmoil and when we are asked to give more of ourselves we need to pray to God and listen to her response.  Our giving should be sacrificial but it may be more sacrificial in aspects that we least expect.  It is when we pick up the burden that God gives to us that we find ourselves guided and directed by God's grace.