Have you caught yourself scrolling through a list of movies to watch, unable to commit the time for any of them? Or leafing through a catalogue, not able to decide on anything because there are too many choices? Or leaving the grocery store without any cereal because there were just too many options?
Americans often equate freedom with having many choices and keeping our options open. We find commitment difficult, old-fashioned, limiting. Even finding time for a regular phone call seems daunting because there is so much distracting news and entertainment available. We live in a culture that some call “infinite browsing.”
A basic tenant at Church of the Saviour has been commitment, and yearly recommitment, to God’s call and one’s community. It’s intended to limit our choices and focus attention on what is truly call (and what is not call). And now, as we celebrate 75 years as a church, people are challenging the very idea of commitment as elitist, something only financially secure people can consider.
When Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs, the Gospel of Mark tells us that he gave specific instructions: take nothing extra with you and stay wherever you are welcomed.* Don’t move around to a better place. “Yes” to a staff and sandals. “No” to an extra tunic. And if you are not welcomed, shake the dust off of your feet and move on. That sounds like call and commitment to me.
Of course, the disciples were living in a simpler time within a culture that valued hospitality. Leaving behind the social constraints of village life meant both freedom and risk for the disciples, and letting go of moving up the social ladder to better accommodations put them right where they needed to be – in what Richard Rohr calls “the naked now,” shorn of past security and future expectations. Commitment clears the way to be truly present to the life we have, here and now. It is the gift we bear for others.
–Marjory Zoet Bankson, Editor of InwardOutward.org
- What distractions tempt you the most?
- When has commitment brought you inner freedom?
- Are there places where you are called into the unknown?
