Letter from our Minister- September 2009

Dear Friends

Often the summer holidays for us, with school age children, involve a trip to Cornwall towing our aged trailer tent (East German design – built to last – no frills – 25+ years old now). For me the thought of holidays can raise my blood pressure to heights I do not care to think about. Preparing our beloved tent for the journey is usually fraught with complications due to its age, and getting ready for departure requires a degree in the Fine Art of Packing and an MA in Preparations for Tenting Disasters. I’m sure others of you will recognise the “delights” of embarking on such a journey.

The counter to the stress is the thought of why I am putting myself through this: a mug of tea, a good book, and relaxing outside my tent overlooking the Cornish sea. Bliss. I’ve often wondered what it was like for the biblical Abraham as God called him to set out on a journey. At least I know where I’m going to end up. For Abram the reason for his journey was defined differently:

“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” Genesis 12:1

The purpose of Abram’s journey was not in terms of already knowing the landscape that he would enjoy when he arrived and sat outside of his tent with a mug of something sweet. For Abram the purpose was in the fact that God had called him (and his family) to journey, and to trust in the faithfulness of God who would lead him and his family. I can imagine that Abram had his stressful moments, aged 75, in undertaking the journey with all the organisation required to move “lock, stock, and barrel”, yet he could move purposely forward on his journey knowing that he was doing so because this was where God was leading him.

Reflecting on our willingness to allow God to lead us in our journey as a Christian community I can see some aspects of our 21st century life that need to be constantly weighed, and at times placed in proper perspective:

•    we often confuse the church buildings with the Church, and make more of bricks, mortar, and possessions in our lives than we should, although these material things are also experienced as a blessing from God to be used in our service of him.

•    we all enjoy the benefit of a comfortable environment which can assist us in attracting others to join in with us, but at times forget that we are called to live in “tents” and that God’s people are on a journey.

•    we are tempted to place too much emphasis on one person (contemporary cult of the individual), and in doing so forget the truth that God has, and is, calling and equipping every Christian to exercise a ministry through their life of service within the body of Christ – to participate in enabling others to journey well.

•    we are able to celebrate (this season in the Harvest services) all that God has provided for us and which are a blessing in our lives, and yet this can become our main focus rather than continuing to place our dependence and trust in the God who led Abraham to new places.

I wonder how far each of us is able to start each day, each week, with the knowledge that God has set us going on a journey in our lives and in our common life as his people? Perhaps as we increasingly consider aspects of our lives and allow God to weigh us, then we will become more acutely aware of the way in which the God of Abraham is a faithful God, in whom we can place out trust, and one who will lead us forward to the place(s) that he will show us. Such living is not always comfortable or comforting for us, but it will certainly be a journey where God opens our eyes to see new horizons.

In the biblical letter to the Hebrews we read about people of faith:

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8)

When my children were younger they would say “How long until we get there daddy?” My reply was always something like “Look out of the window, and see the view.” One of the wonderful things about a journey is not always the arrival so much as what we discover and do on the journey. Please pray for what the Church family will discover, and be enabled to do, in taking each step together.

Wishing you Christ’s blessing, from a fellow traveller,

Revd Andrew Mills