God the Catcher

Leith Anderson
Advent 2003 #1
“The hope of the world”
Luke 1:26-38

Henri Nouwen wrote a book called Sabbatical Journeys in which he describes the relationship between the “flyer” and the “catcher” in a circus trapeze performance. The flyer lets go of the trapeze and flies high above the audience in moments of frightening danger. He does nothing more to get himself caught than hold his position as still as possible.

One of the Flying Roudellas told Nouwen, “The flyer must never try to catch the catcher.” The flyer just trusts and the catcher will catch.

It is like that with us and God. We let go and fly through danger filled with trust and hope. It is not our job to catch the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit will catch us.

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