“No” involves no apparent risk.
“No” does not make us vulnerable.
“No” does not even require us to listen.
“No” can dismiss without discussion - ask any child.
“No” has its place, but it tends to stray out of bounds.
“No” spoken enough times can be painful to the heart of a child.
“No” from the lips of our beloved can create such an aching distance.
“No” can be fiercely inappropriate when spoken
into the ears of a parent,
“Yes” is the polar opposite to “No.”
“Yes” is such a beautiful word, short yet sweet,
unsophisticated yet profound.
Yet “Yes” can be risky and dangerous.
“Yes” can make things very complicated.
“Yes” can make living and thinking difficult,
and complex, and rich.
To speak “Yes” and mean it is to be vulnerable.
To live up to “Yes” is to be a keeper of promises.
To act on “Yes” is to love.
Paul agrees:
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you,
Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not "Yes and No";
but in him it is always "Yes."
For in him every one of God's promises is a "Yes."
For this reason it is through him that we say the "Amen,"
to the glory of God.
A Prayer: Yes
You are the God who is simple, direct, clear with us and for us.
You have committed yourself to us.
You have said yes to us in creation,
yes to us in our birth,
yes to us in our baptism,
yes to us in our awakening this day.
more accustomed to “perhaps, maybe, we’ll see,”
left in wonderment and ambiguity.
We live our lives not back to your yes,
but out of our endless “perhaps.”
So we pray for your mercy this day that we may live yes back to you,
yes with our time,
yes with our money,
yes with our sexuality,
yes with our strength and with our weakness,
yes to our neighbor,
yes and no longer “perhaps."
even Jesus who is our yes into your future. Amen.
- Walter Brueggemann
Ron
