By Revd Canon Chris Palmer, Canon Treasurer
There’s an old piece of wisdom: Let go, and let God. It can be a cliché, but it is also deeply true, and a message at times that I need to hear.
I’m very much at the letting go stage of my work in Exeter. In two weeks the packers arrive to behind the process of moving me and my family to Winchester. I’m laying down responsibilities here, and learning that some things will remain unfinished.
It’s true of the sorting, too. I’ve lived with the hope and promise to myself that we will take nothing to Winchester that we don’t need and want. But the sheer task of disposing of things we don’t need is too big for the time available. Even throwing away might be an unfinished task.
But letting go is a spiritual discipline. It is the good admission that everything does not depend on us, an embrace of the humility that we are not in ultimate control, nor are we ought to be. Indeed, a world in which we had all power would be a frightening place.
Let go and let God. Letting go is an act of trust in God. It is what we do every time we say the creed. ‘I believe in God’ is not merely a declaration of intellectual assent; it is an act of entrusting ourselves, our world, and our futures to God. This is the very basis of what it means to be Christians, and it is the commitment we commend to the world. If we cannot learn to trust God with our unfinished tasks, our unresolved problems, and our uncertain futures, then how can we invite others to this life of faith?
We can of course make the opposite mistake of not letting go, namely abdicating all responsibility, washing our hands of problems. This is an act of taking other people and God for granted, refusing to join in and cooperate in God’s work and God’s purposes.
But just now and for me, laying things down is the proper thing to do. And part of the laying down, is choosing gratitude for what has been. It is easier to leave behind and let go of what we take time to acknowledge and celebrate, than the things that lurk unnamed in our subconscious.
So as I prepare to leave Exeter, I had on my lips another wise word, closely related to letting go and letting God, that of Dag Hammarskjöld, sometime Secretary General of the United Nations: ‘For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes.’
Please pray for me as I make the move to Winchester, as I will pray for you.