VICAR'S LETTER
17
Sundon Road
Streatley
June, 2009
Dear
All
One
of the commonest ways that people use to make sense of their lives is to
think of them as a journey. It
is a way of thinking that has its roots in the Bible but which this part
of the world has done much to develop.
It is also a way of thinking that seems to offer a promising basis
for our worship and our work this coming summer.
The
biblical basis for the idea is to be found in the book of Exodus.
The story Exodus tells is of Israel’s journey from slavery
through the Wilderness to the Promised Land, but it needs very little
effort of the imagination to see also in that story the journey of
Everyman. Everyman’s
journey begins with dependence (Moses being saved by his mother and
sisters). Its early years are
spent under the authority of others (the slavery of Egypt).
But then comes the time when each of us must strike alone (the
Crossing of the Red Sea). As
we journey through the wilderness of the world we lose our bearings (the
golden calf), we feel abandoned (the waters of Meribah).
We need guidelines (the Ten Commandments, the clouds and the pillar
of fire). We need support
(the manna and the quails). But
hopefully at last we will reach our Promised Land.
This
idea of life as a journey, born of Exodus, has been particularly developed
in this part of the world. St
Albans was a great centre for pilgrimage, a custom that enshrines the idea
of life as a journey. Much
more to the point, Bedfordshire produced the definitive account of life as
a journey in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress with its account of how
Christian breaking free from despondency journeys via the temptations of
Vanity Fair and the dungeons of the Giant Despair to arrive at last at the
Celestial City.
The
idea of life as a journey, born of the Exodus and developed here in
Bedfordshire, now seems to be emerging as the basis for our work and
worship this summer. At the
May Family Service we played ‘The Game of Life’ with its picture of
life as a search for treasure. The
Start Group is examining our spiritual journey, looking at what can be
done to reinvigorate us when we grow weary and to enliven us when we grow
stale, at how we can overcome the obstacles we encounter, and at what the
church can do to help the traveller on his way.
The Sunday School and Sunday Club are learning and reflecting on
the story of the Exodus.
By the time you read this we shall have crossed the Great Divide. This is the divide that runs through the middle of the church’s year. From Advent to Whit we track the story of Jesus. From Trinity to Christ the King, we reflect on how we can follow in his footsteps. The idea of the journey seems to offer a rich vein of reflection which we can mine as we plot the onward course both of our own lives and of the life of our church.
All best wishes,
Roger.