Day Twenty-Nine | March 27 TWENTY-NINE

Unconditional Surrender

In September of 1945, the USS Missouri docked in Tokyo Bay. It would be the site of one of the most momentous events in all the world’s vast history. On its teak deck, envoys of the defeated Japanese army would concede defeat. There they would surrender – unconditionally. After years of war, after millions of deaths: peace. With the stroke of a pen: peace.

Without excuse, without recourse, without any right to an exception: an unconditional surrender was what it took to end the violence and cruelty and loss. And it is still what’s required.

It is one of the basic tenets of our faith (maybe it’s the basic tenet): the claim that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord. And, truth be told, we love the “Savior” part – rejoicing in His salvation and in the grace that does for us that which we could never do for ourselves. It’s the “Lord” part that trips us up. To say that Jesus is our Lord is to say that He is our Master, and that we are His servants. It means that we let go of all our wants and thoughts and desires and control. It means that we let go of all that we think is ours. It means that we surrender –unconditionally – to align our will with His.

It is a way of unquestioning obedience: obedience that’s not a once-in-a-lifetime decision but rather a daily dying to ourselves. It’s the daily choice to take up our cross and to follow the way of our Lord.

Like the faint memory of a place that we’ve once been, we’ve a notion of what it means to follow Jesus; but in our daily comings and goings, we forget the way to that place. We remember its flavor, but we forget its taste. We remember how it felt, but we forget how it feels.

It is a strange truth to be sure, but the only way for us to go forward into that life that God has for us is for us to go backwards, to return to a place of simplicity and honesty, to return to a place of goodness for Goodness’ sake. In the language of the faith, this act of turning, the act of obedience, this act of surrender is called repentance. It is the willful determination of the faithful to turn (or better, to re-turn) to those people we were created to be: God-centered instead of self-centered, othersserving rather than self-serving. It is the training of our minds, bodies, and souls to surrender all that we want for all that we need.

When I was growing up, we’d run and play until the streetlamps started coming on. There, trees were the masts of ships and pine thickets were the dragon’s lair. The world was sweet and unstained (and I guess I was, too). But as the sun slowly sank behind the horizon and the last pink ribbon of day faded into black, my mom would come to the porch and call that it was time to come home.

Repentance is that call. It is the call of heaven for us to stop pretending and to return home, for us to remember and to be those people we were created to be.