The Long Walk Home

Wednesday is a good day, it’s just enough into the week to get into the routine of life, and then it’s downhill all the way into the weekend, it is the summit of the week. And in my vague routine it’s a quieter day of being in Brighton, preparing stuff, hanging out with other student workers to watch neighbours and drink tea. Today was a good day. Inspite of illness and tiredness the randomness and scheming ways of our God have managed to creep into the conversations, the MSN moments, the text messages and have left me aware of God through his people.

Outside the fog threatens to banish the world but inside the lights are on and God is present in the lives of us, his people. Present through our dancing conversations roaming in the wilderness from randomness to reality. (I like that sentence). In a reality that, though invisible, is very tanglible.

Once again Martyn Joesph expresses it better than I could, this meeting of souls, that as the Body meets together, God comes and does his work within us, through us and around us.

“This is us, we, you and me together we are home..
We’re a stupid man, a dreamer
Got fire in a soul
A fighting, writing, wronging
A broken God shaped hole
Stand with you in the desert
Walk with you on the path
And the truth is I’m not joking
And I hope that you won’t laugh

This is us, we, you and me together we are home..
Bring on all the doubter’s
And those who know too much
To gather in the darkness
And find a common touch
Got no doubt we need justice
Got no doubt we need some faith
Got no doubt that love’s a mystery
I’m holding on to the tails of her grace”
(Martyn Joesph)

Ever since the esteemed Bluefishwrote the words, “theological books are the best books”, my brain has been ticking over what I think are the best books in the world.

Here’s my own thoughts: The best books in the world (for me?) are those that speak of the reality of who we are as humans, that remind me of what we are doing here, that make me see that others wonder the same as I, that express the questions, the whys and wherefores of living in this messy world. Books that tell stories of what it is like to be human. That wrestle with the question of what any of this world means. Some of these I have found in the world of theology (Mr Eugene Peterson being a classic example) but most outside. The most recent book that is doing that to my brain is: ‘Moondust’ by Andrew Smith.

It’s a book about the nine people still remaining who have stood on the moon. Think about that for a second and it does your head in, people who have stood on the moon. Look at it out of your window tonight and feel your brain imploding at the thought. It’s written by a guy wondering how you come back to earth after that, how you deal with having seen the bigger picture of Earth from above, and who wonders what it all meant, if anything at all.

There is something about the quest for meaning that connects inside me. Probably because I search for that myself, for some kind of purpose to this world. It’s good to ask that question and it’s good to explore all the other things that define my life, that give it meaning. The good things of this world. Friends, sunshine, the sea, the Lake District, cups of tea, good food, pubs and long conversations. Usually I discover that none of these things make any sense at all without them being shot through with the reality of the Maker. But it’s good to feel the questions without skipping to the end. To discover that the answer is more deeper and real than we could imagine, and to sometimes stand out in the rain with no answers.

Photos from the evening of Pancake. Lots of lovely mess and my Danish housemate demonstrating the art of the perfect pancake. Mmmm.

Pancakes. Mmm.
Obviously this should have come before profound musings about Lent. But who cares. Pancakes are wonderful. Nevermore so than when coated in lemon and sugar. Although a close second has to be Nutella and banana. Check out the history of the humble pancake here. We’re having pancake and knitting madness tonight in our house. Expect amusing photos tomorrow.

There are moments built into our lives to help us remember things. I think because we are stupid bits of dust and easily forget the reality of the world around us. Thankfully we have a maker who remembers that we are just dust, and who graciously puts things in our path to help us remember. The Old Testament is littered with such events, stones and markers to help the Israelites remember the God who had brought them out of slavery and into the Promised Land. The New testament also has it’s fair share of memory moments, with the obvious Lord’s Supper, but there are also many commands for us to encourage each other daily, to remember to whom we belong.

Moments of remembrance throughout the year are clearly a Good Thing. And so we come to Lent. A time of year taken over by people who want to use it to help us exercise will power and remove sugar from our lives. Strangely Lent is not really about that. This quote I found the other day helps.

“Lent is supposed to be a time when we review our spiritual life, think again about what it means to be a follower of Christ, reset the compass of our discipleship and prepare ourselves to celebrate the Easter festival. But often we just give up biscuits” (Stephen Cottrell, I Thirst, p. 12)

“Lent is not about giving up luxuries, not about losing weight or gaining other benefits, not about food per se, not about de-cluttering or Feng Shui or about ay other kind of feel-good, de-toxifying exercise. In the end, it’s about denying yourself some of the essentials of everday life in order to focus on the reality that we depend upon God for life itself; about re-aligning ourselves with God and his purposes in our world; about reminding ourselves that all we have is a gift from God in any case.
And neither is Lent about achievement. We cannot earn God’s love, nor save ourselves. If our Lenten Fast is understood well, it will relieve us of the need to try harder, achieve more, feel worthy. It will ground us in the firm and unshakeable knowledge that we are human – we are but dust, and to dust we shall return – but that to be human is enough, under the loving gaze of God.” (Maggi Dawn)

So there you go. Lent. Another focused time of the year to help us remember where it is we come from, who it is that defines our lives and where we are going. Giving up chocolate almost sounds easier.