Catching The Catcher

Catching the Catcher

Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.

1 Chronicles 16:9

The great spiritual writer Henri Nouwen’s final book before he died on September 21, 1996, was a diary of his last year. Throughout his journal he talks about trapeze artists known as the Flying Rodleighs. He was touched by their skill and grace on the trapeze. Much of his attraction to their circus performance had to do with the special relationship between the flyer and the catcher. Swinging high above the crowd, the daredevil flyer lets go of the trapeze simply to stretch out his arms and wait to feel the strong hands of the catcher pluck him out of the air. “The flyer must never catch the catcher,” one member of the troupe had told him. “He must wait in absolute trust.”

What a powerful message for those of us who are driven by control. Can you imagine the strong-minded discipline it takes to surrender your own efforts to the hands of another? Could the two of you do this together? Could you fly helpless through the air and yet resist your internal compulsion for control, relying solely on someone else to save you?

Thankfully, we can leave the trapeze act to the professionals. This kind of trust seems beyond comprehension to most of us, yet it is the very quality that saves us from ourselves and brings us to a place of genuine worship. Why? Because the major obstacle we have in entering true worship is ourselves. Worship, by its very nature, helps us transcend our self-reliance and trust more wholly in God. Worship releases us from our self-focus and puts our eyes on Christ.

Only when we surrender our own efforts to the hands of our Creator do we truly worship. In worship we set aside our compulsion for control to hear what God might say to us. Through music, through words, through fellowship, God speaks because we have surrendered ourselves to him.

Imagine how your marriage might be improved if you exchanged your desire to control your spouse for a wholehearted trust in God.

Worship changes us into the likeness of the one we worship.

—Jack Hayford