Posted Monday 28 May 2007
Recently I was privileged to be part of the Diocesan group sharing in the Growing Together experience, which brought together five people from our Diocese and five each from our two companion Dioceses of Byumba and Kentucky, writes Rev Canon Jeanette Jenkins.
Our first two days together were spent in Galloway where we visited Sweetheart and Dundrennan Abbeys and Greyfriars Church in Kirkcudbright before being royally entertained with a Scottish meal and a ceilidh in Castle Douglas, all interspersed with worship and opportunity to get to know one another. The third day took us back into Ayrshire and over to Millport where we were ably led in a process of growing and understanding our mission and outreach in our own land and together in the world.
As we travelled together, visiting the past, sharing in the present and looking to the future, I was reminded time and time again that the early Christians were known as ‘People of the Way’; people who were following a particular path, journeying and on the move. People who travelled together nurturing and spreading the Word of God and the good news of the Resurrection. People with a sense of purpose!
And that, in a nutshell, sums up much of what I have learned throughout this time together. We may have our differences in theological interpretation and belief, and some of that is threatening our Anglican Communion, but together we are ‘on the Way’, travelling together as we seek to be God’s people in today’s world. In Byumba there are very obvious needs and people turn to the church for help, which tends to make their role in mission clearer. For us here in Scotland and perhaps in Kentucky, the story is different and although there are definite needs, the church is usually not the first place people turn to for help. We need to reach out to them.
Visiting the ruined abbeys in Galloway we are reminded of how those who went before us sought to live out their Christian faith and witness. They stand as monuments to the past, to an era where the church was the centre of community life, providing food, nurture and security. The centuries have moved on and I wonder what our legacy to the future will be. Will people in centuries to come be able to find examples of our Christian faith and witness? And I am not advocating building abbeys!
It seems to me that we have forgotten that we are meant to be ‘People of the Way’, people moving forward in our search for truth in times when the church as we know it is rapidly declining. Perhaps it is easier to cling to the past than to go forward into what may seem to be an uncertain future, but our call is to follow where our Master leads us and we have His promise to hold on to as we take each step along the way. ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’, Jesus said, and He also said ‘follow me.’
So let us build on the heritage of the past but not cling to it. Our mission is to the people of today and to build the church of the future, learning and seeking as we travel together rekindling our sense of purpose for we know whose we are and whom we seek to serve. To quote from another of my favourites, as People of the Way, ‘let us boldly go where no one has gone before’ with our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus whom we have the privilege to serve today.
Category: Thought for the Month
