Eyes Forward

It’s a natural reflex, when confronted with something momentous, to think there is something big we need to do – something grand, great, dramatic – to meet the moment.  And there are many times – and many courageous people – who have risen to meet the moment in significant, faithful ways.

And often, this is our call: meet the moment of crisis with effort and action that matches the crisis. But there’s a catch. Sometimes, we are not being asked for the big moment, the dramatic act of discipleship, an extravagant display of devotion.

We begin thinking that Jesus is asking us to drink the cup he offers in one big, significant swallow. But suppose we need to drink the cup not in one big gulp, but rather to sip the cup for years and years, to take up the cross and follow for a lifetime.

Not one dramatic moment, not one amazing service project, not one big event, not one mountaintop experience of faith, not one fraught election, not one heroic occasion when photographers capture the scene just so, not exactly the right post or quote – but instead to do something humble, something small but consistent, something reliable, nurturing, faithful.

This is the joy born of faith that leads us to promote God’s radical hope and to offer that hope as resistance to the “powers that be” at any given moment. This is the discipleship through which we allow our life categories to be disrupted by the persistent, intrusive Spirit of God. Sometimes, drinking from Jesus’ cup is not done in one great choking swallow, but in small sips over a lifetime.

Getting to sip from that cup…day by day…over a lifetime…gives us the time we need to develop hearts for those close to us, and hearts for those far off. We can claim the time we need to deepen our faith. It gives us opportunity to approach mission and outreach with relational partners instead of projects. It gives us the kindness and gentleness to hear the pain and fear of those cast out. It helps us to filter out harsh, unrelenting voices of our culture that are so enamored with power and winning, and to model Jesus’ way in the world instead.

It gives us a lifetime to embrace humility and joy as the way we want to live following Jesus. We need to keep reminding ourselves that taking up a cross and following Jesus is a lifelong commitment. It is almost never one big gulp, but mostly the day to day sipping of God’s cup of humility and joy, of truth and hope.

Of all the pictures of the struggle for Civil Rights, one of the most poignant is displayed here. It’s the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. Martin Luther King Jr. is leading the way with so many others. Shoulder to shoulder they march.

The photograph was taken just an instant after a large noise disrupted the moment – was it a car backfiring, or a bomb? Whatever it was – King, almost alone, keeps his eyes straight ahead. Everyone else is reacting to the sound and looking for the origin of the threat. He keeps eyes straight ahead – no distractions – step by step, sip by sip – sharing truth and hope in doing God’s work today.

I don’t need to tell you that humility, joy, hope, and truth face an uphill battle today. But step by step, sip by sip, followers of Jesus are called to listen, care, heal, reconcile, and love.

We have the gifts from God that we need for this moment, this day, this week, and all the weeks ahead: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is the enduring foundation God has given us to stand against all that would seek to tear us apart and tear our world apart.

Step by step, sip by sip – use this to discern how to live, how to minister, and where to go in Jesus’ name.

Step by step.

Sip by sip.

Eyes forward…