Finding and Losing Life: Reflections on Mark 8:30-37

September 10, 2012 by Alyce McKenzie

Continued from Page 1

He is on his way back, thanks to his loving wife and children and the good work of AA. He was a private man, so he wouldn't tell Will all the details, but he did tell him this: "I had always gone to church, but always in the back of my mind, thought the Church was for losers, the weak. But you would be amazed at what I've learned about God."

"Like what?" Will asked him.

"That so many phrases I had heard all my life suddenly have become real to me," replied his friend.

"Like what?"

"Like 'Take up your cross' and 'You can only find your life by losing it.' Through hitting bottom, I've met God," said Will's friend.

"And who is the God you have met?"

"God is a tough, relentless, devastating friend."

On a flight I was on recently, the flight attendant turned his announcements into a stand-up comedy routine. My favorite line was this: "In the event that our flight becomes a cruise, your seat cushion serves as a flotation device."

If you're looking for a motto to live by, you can't do any better than this odd, discombobulating saying of Jesus about losing and finding and finding and losing. It will bear us up, and it will guide us through. It's the most reliable saying I know for us to cling to.

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About Alyce McKenzie

Alyce M. McKenzie is the George W. and Nell Ayers Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

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