Letting Go

Beloved in Christ,

In baseball, when a player is struggling to hit, their natural instinct is, of course, to try harder. But straining to conjure greater effort from somewhere inside makes them clench up, overthink their swing, and sends them down a counterproductive spiral players call “pressing.” Hitting a baseball requires a posture of relaxed alertness, and pressing makes that state impossible to find. 

Pressing is also a danger in our lives as followers of Jesus. When we look at the challenges in our lives and our congregations and when we see the suffering and injustice in the world, our instinct is to clench, to double down, and try to “do something about it.” Life in the Spirit, however, is about letting go as much as it is doubling down. Confronting the pain and challenges of the world, like hitting a baseball, requires a state of relaxed alertness and the ability to see what the Spirit is up to so we can join in. 

But make no mistake, this is not about being passive in the face of suffering and injustice. It’s about remembering who is ultimately driving, and where the power for healing and liberation actually comes from. Clenched urgency is spiritual sabotage. Doubling down like we’re in charge is the foundation of oppression and injustice. Regular, daily, intentional prayer helps us stay in the state where we let God lead, rather than trying to play God in our own lives.

This is hard, and we can’t do it alone. That’s why we gather regularly as faith communities.  We have to help each other drop our shoulders, see what God is up to in our lives and communities, and then get on board with where the Spirit is blowing. 

As we welcome the gift of the Spirit again this Sunday, may we remember that, with all that confronts us in this moment, we are not alone. We don’t meet our challenges alone. We are buoyed along by the power of the living God, knit inseparably to each other, and our faithful acting in the world is always and only grounded in how we tether ourselves to God’s almighty power of love. 

Grace and Peace, 

The Right Rev. Craig Loya