Let me go!

“Let me go!” A common request heard in families with more than one child. There is something about older siblings that seems to lead to opportunities for the younger siblings to ask, or shout, “Let me go!” It isn’t only siblings, uncles, or “uncles,” or cousins, or . . . there seems to be an endless array of bigger and/or older people who are likely to hold on to a person for too long. In these cases, at least much of the time, there is no malice involved; it is teasing.*

Our Old Testament text hinges on a wrestling match, this is the kind of wrestling you see every four years at the Olympics, not the kind where folding chairs are deployed as weapons. Wrestling is a sport which requires holding on to each other. I believe it is technically called grappling, but whatever you call it, one of the participants might say, “Let me go!” Just as with teasing, you may or may not be let go, but you can ask.

Are there times when you ask or even shout, “Let me go!” and the person holding you keeps on holding you? Or, the better question, are there times when continuing to hold someone who doesn’t want to be held is a good thing? The answer is yes. Sometimes we hold people to keep from inadvertently or purposefully hurting themselves. Sometimes we hold people who are so over-stimulated that they don’t know what to do.

This sermon makes the case that there are times when being “let go” is not the best thing. Let me know if you think I made the case or failed, as you are inclined and able.

“Let me go!” St. Mark’s Presbyterian (to download, right-click and select “Save Link As . . .”)

* We will leave for another time the question of whether there is such a thing as malice-free teasing at all, and especially from the perspective of the person being teased. Let me know if you want me to take a run at the question in a sermon or an article, or something.

Blessings,