Lessons on Letting Go
Sunday Jan 7, 2024
Series: Picking up and Letting Go - Part 1 - Scriptures: Gen 33:1a, Gen 33:1-4, Gen 33:8-9 (NIV)
Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions are a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.
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Message Summary: We’re kicking off the new year with a short string on Picking up and Letting Go. This week, we’re reflecting on letting go in order to make room for things we need to pick up in the new year.
Awkward twins - Jacob and Esau are twin brothers, their father is Isaac, Abraham’s son. God’s promise to Abraham was that his family would become a blessing to the whole world, however very quickly Abraham’s family becomes dysfunctional. Isaac loves Esau, his firstborn, because Esau is strong and loves hunting. Rebecca loves Jacob (later called Israel, which means “struggling with God”). Jacob tricked Esau into selling his birthright for lunch and Jacob and Rebecca later trick Isaac, who’s blind. Jacob pretends to be Esau and receives the firstborn blessing from Isaac, the blessing that was intended for Esau. Esau swears to kill Jacob, Jacob has to flee for his life.
Intimidating Reunions - when Jacob becomes rich and returns home, about 20 years later, he hears that his brother Esau is coming to visit him with 400 men. Jacob is terrified and starts sending gifts, to create a barrier of generosity between himself and his past. As he travels to meet Esau, he sends gifts ahead of himself waves after waves, trying to pacify or “cover the face” of his brother Esau.
Unexpected Responses However, Esau runs to meet Jacob when he sees him in the distance and embraces him and weeps with him. He refuses the gifts. The prodigal son story in Lk 15 has Jacob and Esau in mind, it uses a similar language. Jacob is the prodigal in this story.
Abandoning Old Stories Jacob is the protagonist in the story, but he’s not a hero. Esau is the one who surprises us. The story is about Jacob being more than his mistakes and Esau being more than his hurts. When we hold on to the old narratives, it gets very hard for us to pick up something new.
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Connect: Share one highlight from your holiday break.
Share: Jeremy said that opinions have a way of becoming fossilized. “And that’s the real danger as we enter into a new year imagining all of the possibilities for change and growth, because you see, when opinions get stuck, they have a way of becoming narratives. An opinion is no longer a statement about how we view the world, but now a story that tells us how we must view the world. And this is why the practice of continually letting go is far more difficult, and to be honest, far more important than we often realize. Letting go of old stories is often the prerequisite for the change we hope to see in ourselves.” Share what you think about this connection between opinions and narratives. How has this been true for you? What are some of your past narratives that were formed by fossilized opinions (or maybe even family of origin history, like in Jacob-Esau story)?
Reflect: What do you think about Jacob’s strategy when he faces a reunion with his brother? In what way does it make sense and in what way it doesn’t? What does it tell us about the way Jacob sees Esau?
Engage: What surprises you in the story of reconciliation of the two brothers who meet decades later in life? What do you think about this connection between Jacob-Esau story and the Prodigal Son story? “As much as this story is about how Jacob is more than his mistakes, it is also, equally, about how Esau is so much more than his hurts." What story do you think each of the brothers needs to let go of?
Take away: What would you like to take away from today’s conversation? And a reflection question for this week: what is one old story from your past that still tells you what is and is not possible today? How can you let go of it to make room for new possibilities?
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Pray: God of new beginnings, who is always ahead of us, inviting us forward, encouraging us to begin and begin again would you be present in the start of this new year, as we imagine ourselves in new moments and situations, as we learn to love the best about what you have created in us, as we survey a new year laid out before us, full of possibilities and dangers and triumphs and failures. Might we become captured by what you see in us: goodness, and kindness, and strength, and resolve. Fill our lungs with the fresh breathe of spirit, allows us to see with new eyes the possibilities ahead, bring us forward in joy as real as grace to celebrate your holy presence in and around us, in the strong name of the risen Christ we pray. Amen.
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CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 139
MUSIC Curated by Kevin Borst
Brooke Ligertwood - Banner
Maverick City Music - Jireh
United - Good Grace
Brooke Ligertwood - A Thousand HallelujahsEPIPHANY SUNDAY REFLECTIVE PRAYER Written by Yelena Pakhomova
Today is Epiphany Sunday. Epiphany celebrates the revelation of God in Christ to the entire world and is one of the oldest feasts of the Christian church. Epiphany tells us that God wants to be known and that God often shows up in our lives in surprising ways.
Epiphany marks the end of the Christmas season and sends us into the new year with the hope that no matter what this year may bring, God will be there with us.
So, would you join me now in an Epiphany prayer for the new year:
God of Epiphany,
You reveal yourself in creation, in the extravagant beauty and generosity of the land, and in all the ways it feeds our bodies and nourishes our souls.
As we step into the new year, bless us with a deep sense of our interconnectedness with this place we call home.
May all that we are, all that we do, and all that we love become an instrument of healing for your world.
Christ of Epiphany,
You shine forth in the scriptures, in the lives transformed, in the communities that love mercy and do what is right.
As we step into the new year, bless us with a holy hunger for more justice, more peace, and more loving kindness in our work, in our relationships and even with ourselves.
May all that we are, all that we do, and all that we love become an instrument of healing for your world.
Spirit of Epiphany, as close to us as our breath.
You help us see the divine touch in our lives.
As we step into the new year, bless us with a sacred curiosity that listens without fear, is quick to admit defensiveness, and pursues insight and truth with an open heart.
May all that we are, all that we do and all that we love become an instrument of healing for your world.
Amen.
