Getting Past the Fork of Hesitation
- davidwperk
- Mar 27
- 7 min read
Devotional Reflection, Thursday, March 27, 2o25
The week of the third Sunday in Lent
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’
(You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 954)
AM Psalm [83] or 42, 43; PM Psalm 85, 86
Jer. 10:11-24; Rom. 5:12-21; John 8:21-32
Today we celebrate the Feast of Charles Henry Brent. (See below.)
David’s Reflections
The contemporary American poet, W. S. Merwin, penned these lines in his poem “Lemuel’s Blessing”
Lead me past the error at the fork of hesitation.
Deliver me. *
Life’s journey presents us with a series of forks of hesitation, a series of tough choices requiring courage, moral fortitude, and discipline. Hence the hesitation, the struggle with ourselves and with the consequences of our choices. A part of our struggle arises out of the limits on our freedom. Our will gets entangled in its habitual choices from the past, in our fears and anxieties, in our persistent tendency to act for ourselves and our own interests instead of for the well being of others. Our less-than-noble desires and wants crowd out our holier desires. And our circumstances often compress our options. So, we often can find ourselves looking back on the fork of hesitation and regretting the path we chose.
Even a measure of freedom can prove elusive. One prayer in the New Zealand Prayer Book puts it well,
“God our Creator, our centre, our friend,
we thank you for our good life,
for those who are dear to us,
for our dead, and for all who have helped and influenced us.
We thank you for the measure of freedom we have,
And the extent to which we control our lives;” +
How does one find that measure of freedom, that untangling of the will from all that has us caught? How does one push against compressing circumstances?According to our text, one finds that capacity by nurturing through faith and trust a living connection with Jesus Christ. Christ says that we shall know the truth and the truth shall make us free. John’s Gospel makes it clear that knowing the truth means far more than embracing a proposition or concept. Rather, Jesus himself embodies truth (John 14:6). To know the truth is to accept him and allow him to befriend and live in and with us.
We made that commitment in Holy Baptism and professed that we were receiving Christ into our lives. If we were infants, our sponsors made that promise for us and at confirmation we confessed our own faith in Jesus. Now, our calling is to live into those promises made in Holy Baptism and in so doing to nurture our relationship with Jesus. (For the baptismal promises and baptismal covenant see The Book of Common Prayer, pp. 302-305.)
We nurture that relationship in public worship through receiving God’s Word in readings, music, prayers, and sermon and the body and blood of Christ in Holy Eucharist. The other sacraments of the church like reconciliation, unction (healing), and marriage bring God’s grace and the presence of Christ to us. The life of the church brings us into relationships of encouragement with others through doing acts of mercy in community, engaging together in Christ’s mission of gathering all people, small groups, and the friendships we form. Christ nurtures us through those connections and relationships.
Also, we nurture our union with Christ in private devotions through prayer, contemplation, living into the guidance of Holy Scripture and the inner voice of the Spirit, the exercise of spiritual disciplines (like fasting, simplicity, study, etc) and the writings of other Christians. (I would recommend the work of Richard Foster on spiritual disciplines, The Celebration of Discipline.)
In all these ways we experience God’s freeing grace, emboldening us for our next experiences at the fork of hesitation, giving us the toughness of will and the nerve required to opt for the less enjoyable and more difficult path. Some of our caughtness has years of reinforcement and habit pushing against our freedom of will. Finding a greater measure of freedom in those areas requires holy sweat and the courage to overcome failures in the endeavor for liberty.
Episcopal psychiatrist Gerald G. May encapsulated the struggle well. “No matter how oppressed we may be by internal addictions or external forces, love always ensures that some spark of freedom of choice remains alive within us.”^
Yet, Jesus’ promise remains, “You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” We are called to stake our hope in that promise and live toward it, understanding that the truth referenced is Jesus himself, not a body of ideas about him and about God.
* W. S. Merwin, The Second Four Books of Poems (Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 1993), pp. 13-14.
+ A New Zealand Prayer Book. (London: Collins, 1989), p. 183.
^Gerald G. May, The Awakened Heart: Living Beyond Addiction (New York: HarperCollins, 1991), p. 39.
Collect of the Day, The Third Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 218)
Collect for Thursday in the Third Week of Lent
Keep watch over your Church, O Lord, with your unfailing love; and, since it is grounded in human weakness and cannot maintain itself without your aid, protect it from all danger, and keep it in the way of salvation; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Weekday Eucharistic Propers, p. 31)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Charles Henry Brent, missionary bishop (died 27 Mar 1929 CE)
Collect of the Feast of Charles Henry Brent
Heavenly Father, whose Son prayed that we all might be one: Deliver us from arrogance and prejudice, and give us wisdom and forbearance, that, following your servant Charles Henry Brent, we may be united in one family with all who confess the Name of thy Son Jesus Christ: who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Note: Today’s collect for mission was written by Brent and appears in Morning Prayer in The Book of Common Prayer, p. 101.)
A Collect for Guidance
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP 100)
A Collect for the Presence of Christ
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (BCP, 124)
In the Order of Worship for Evening
Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, creator of the changes of day and night, giving rest to the weary, renewing the strength of those who are spent, bestowing upon us occasions of song in the evening. As you have protected us in the day that is past, so be with us in the coming night; keep us from every sin, every evil, and every fear; for you are our light and salvation, and the strength of our life. To you be glory for endless ages. Amen. (BCP, 113)
Of the Holy Eucharist (Especially suitable for Thursdays)
God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of his passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit
of his redemption; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 252)
A Collect for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)
The Gospel Lesson, John 8:21-32
21 Again he said to them, ‘I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 22Then the Jews said, ‘Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ 23He said to them, ‘You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.’ 25They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Why do I speak to you at all? 26I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.’ 27They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. 28So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. 29And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.’ 30As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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