As a teenager I went on numerous guide camps – in addition to the camping badge I even hold the Patrol Camp Permit! - and I also enjoyed camping with my youth fellowship. Greenbelt was one of the highlights of the year – burnt sausages and gathering for worship and teaching in huge circus-sized tents. There is something special about living in close proximity with a group of people for a time (in tents) that really builds relationships.
I have friends who used to live permanently on a canal boat. If the weather was good, they would sit outside to eat or read of an evening and people from other boats or people walking down the towpath would come and join them. They didn’t have much room for storage, so if they needed a bigger pan, for example, they would go and borrow one from a neighbour. The boating community was a very strong one. When they moved into a house, they found it very isolating. They couldn’t understand why people in houses lived such insular lives.
Many of us live lives behind closed doors and hardly know our next door neighbours. I think it is probably true of our churches too. Perhaps we are too “settled”. We become very attached to our buildings and our traditions and we are in danger of shutting the doors against the rest of the community rather than sharing in their lives. We don’t consider we “need” what those outside the church community may have to offer; in fact, we often give the impression that we have what they need and that they need come to us to receive it.
Jesus didn’t make demands like this – he went out into the community, out into the countryside preaching to those he met and offering healing. He didn’t rely on his own resources – instead he accepted hospitality and kindness.
When a teacher of the law came to him as he was teaching one day and declared his intention to follow Jesus wherever he went:
Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ Matthew 8:20 [NIV]
The challenge of this type of uncertain lifestyle is too great for most people today and many can identify with the family responsibilities expressed by another disciple in response to Jesus’ answer.
‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’ Matthew 8:21-22 [NIV]
Thank God for the security that home and family, even possessions, give us. But let us always be open to the challenge of leaving home and family to serve God if that is his plan for us.
Mairi Mowbray
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