Chutzpah

Do you ever get up in the morning and wonder what on earth you are doing?? Me and my husband Mick aged 71 and 73 respectively are pioneering a church plant, charity and community group!! Both of us struggling with health issues at the moment and always wondering about the wisdom of keeping going. I recently read this quote from John Wayne (The Train Robbers) “You’re going to spend the rest of your life getting up one more time than you’re knocked down, so you’d better start getting used to it” The commentator on the quote continued “That’s what success is - getting up one time more than you were knocked down. You have no idea how close you may be to what you want to achieve. But if you give up, you will never know…..”

So we carry on carrying on……….. and getting up this am with a very sore back and the prospect of a busy day of lifting and setting up (any of you who have ever had to set up a church or event in someone else’s building will know exactly what I am talking about) it was so encouraging to read in the Sunday Observer about Cyndi Lauper’s appearance at Glastonbury last night. Cyndi Lauper is 71 and looking good…… she performed on the Pyramid stage and experienced loads of problems with her PA and sound quality (ah know that so well!!)..…… she has my sympathy all the way. She bashed on with her set with what the Observer called “sartorial chutzpah”. I love this phrase “sartorial” because she retained her elegance all the way through despite the problems she was having and managed to stay positive to the end of her set. “chutzpah” (going all in without apology) fascinated me particularly as it is a word I was planning to speak on at Storm Special this afternoon!!

So why “chutzpah”? That is the Hebrew version of a Greek word “anaideia” used only one time in the whole New Testament. It is used by Jesus when his friends “Committed Climbing Companions/CCC’s” (see previous blog) have asked him to teach them how to pray. They have asked him because they have witnessed his constant checking in with his Heavenly Father and the results of that in an extraordinary lived life and they want to know how to tap into that fantastic way of living. He first teaches them the words we all know “Our Father in heaven………. “ and then he tells a story about a man who desperately needs bread for a late night guest and who knocks on his neighbours door with “shameless audacity”, with “anaideia”, with “chutzpah” until his neighbour gives him bread!!

But you know, Jesus isn’t talking about hospitality or neighbourliness or bread ……. he’s talking about prayer…….. that we should have the same “shameless audacity”/“chutzpah” as children have when we ask our Heavenly Father for what we need. Our youngest Granddaughter is a perfect example of this…… doesn’t matter where we go, what we are doing, what the weather is like, whether it is hot or cold…… she will always ask for an ice cream!!

And as you can see, she pretty much always gets one!! Let’s be bold, let’s be shameless, let’s have some “chutzpah” when we come to prayer remembering “how much more” our Heavenly Father wants to bless us and in mine and my husband’s case give us health and strength to keep going……….

Revie G June 2024