MY NEW PLACE OF MINISTRY & HOMETOWN

What would the Bible be without journeys?

What would the Hebrew Bible be without the many journeys to which its authors witness? 

·      Without Adam and Eve’s journey from the Garden of Eden?  

·      Without Noah’s 40-day journey on board the ark? 

·      Without Abraham and Sarah’s journey from the land of Ur? 

·       Without Abraham’s journey up Mount Moriah? 

·      Without Jacob’s journey to his uncle Laban and back? 

·      Without Joseph’s journey to Egypt? 

·      Without the freed Hebrew slaves’ journey out of the land of Egypt, to Mount Sinai, through the desert, and into the Holy Land? 

·      Without the journeys of kings Saul and David during which they fought their Philistine enemies and each other? 

·       Without the journeys of the exiled Judeans into captivity in Babylon and back home?

What would the New Testament be without its many journeys?

·      Without the journeys of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem?

·      Without the wise men’s journey from the East as they followed the star? 

·      Without the adult Jesus’ journey to the River Jordan, the Judean wilderness, Galilee, Samaria, Sidon, and Jerusalem?  

·       And what, finally, would our entire Christian faith be without Jesus’ obedient journey to the cross, without Paul’s journey to Damascus, or without this apostle to the gentiles’ missionary journeys?

It is, indeed, impossible to tell the story of God’s salvation without telling stories of many journeys.

And if the story of our faith is one of GOD calling people onto journeys - away from their home, away from their familiar surroundings, values, ways of seeing and doing things, what then is the journey onto which God is calling YOU right now?  From what is God calling you away and to which future is God calling you? I invite you to use these remaining weeks of Lent to ponder the question of your own life's journey with God.

These days, for obvious reasons, I am reflecting a lot about journeys, journeys to which God’s calls people.  In fact, the concepts of faith and journey are so closely intertwined in my mind that I cannot event think about faith without also thinking about journeying.

I am sure that you will hear a lot more over the next few months about why I felt called to trade Bethel for an unknown future in India.  For now, I just wish to thank you for being good companions during the past five years of journeying together in ministry. 

For those among you who wish to explore my future place of work and the Global Missions work of our denomination, here are links to the website of Henry Martyn Institute in Hyderabad the ELCA Global Missions Unit.