Thursday, July 18, 2013

Out of Africa... an adventure


This year has definitely been my year of adventures: a pilgrimage on a bike to Holy Island a building project (involving for me a pilgrimage from office to office!) and now a trip of a lifetime with my family to Uganda.  We often hear life described as an adventure, but not so often the lives of those who call themselves Christians. It was not always this way. Although Jesus’ own life could be described as almost domesticated: he didn't seem to travel much beyond his own borders. The life of the early church was anything but. Paul is of course famous, and many of us learnt all about his travels when we were at Sunday school. But Peter also traveled to Rome, Thomas perhaps as far as India and there are even the stories of Joseph of Arimethea, the supplier of Jesus’ tomb, travelling to Glastonbury. History has seen many like them, St Patrick, Gladys Aylward in China, David Livingstone to Africa and countless unnamed ones. They seem to have taken Jesus’ command to preach/ live out the good news in “Jerusalem, Samaria and to the ends of the earth” very seriously. Let’s be honest about this, it wasn't always the spirit of adventure that moved them. Sometimes it was persecution and the need to flee, that led to the opportunity to spread the good news. However they certainly did take some risks, and one could well say that they learnt to live their lives to the full, just as Jesus promised they should.

Of course not all of us are called to adventures in travel, or to cross cultural encounters, but the idea of our Christian life as an adventure is a rich idea. This is something of what pilgrimage or even discipleship means. I wonder though are you comfortable describing your life or your faith with this language? Sometimes I think we have made the fundamental mistake of mixing up faith with certainty and we thus become encamped around certain ideas; static and immovable. This is my one fear with the beacon project; that we will see this as an opportunity to settle down again in our new, now comfortable, surroundings. A beacon is a flame that lights up a pathway; an adventure is a journey without certainty where there may be struggles. Faith is the same. None of us can understand or comprehend completely where our life will lead, there are always surprises. Faith helps us to face these challenges and keep moving forward. Faith is the hope that at each crossroad there is still a pathway that leads to peace, and also the re-assurance that we are not called to travel that pathway alone. By faith we take hold of Jesus’ words that: “he will never leave us nor forsake us,” that he is with us, “to the end of the ages.” For the man or woman of faith these words give us strength for each day and the adventures that they may bring.  

Stephen Newell
I look forward to sharing my adventure stories from Uganda with you, and also listening to the stories of your own adventures and struggles and joys.


PS if I get the chance there may well be a blog to follow while we are travelling in Africa see: www.zuchurch.co.uk for details

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