Skip to main content

Run

There have been many times in my life when I have wanted to run. I presume we all have experiences from our childhood where we wanted to run back to a parent for protection and the Safty of the overly well known. If I were a psychologist returning to the womb (sorry dad). First days in a new institution can be fearful why did I move? new job, new relationship, new school, new church. My first day at junior school shit scared of loosing all the comfort, the protection the routine for what? I had no idea just fear. 

When I gave up my job at 30 ish I took a gap year, well three weeks to be precise and went to visit a friend in India. I remember traveling at two in the morning from the airport with Chris in a richashw, I felt like I was in a scean from Appocolips Now. I had never observed anyone have a shit in the street and then sleep under a cart. We were to spend a week on Mumbi and two weeks traveling to Rajasthan very cheaply, very. For a week all I could think of was that prayer from the Clash "should I stay or should I go?". Yes it was a prayer. I knew going home was to the known the comfortable the reassurance of the womb (sorry dad) all I had come to rely upon. My single known reference point was Chris and he had gone native.

Last night was the first of ten nights in Rome on a retreat that's like a holiday for religious readers of books. Well I'm in a single bed, no wife, no dog, no kids (kids second because they left me with dog) no church, no team no @&; data. It would be easy to go home to the known. 

So here is my point, mystery. Mystery makes us. The invitation from God to mystery. I'm reading The Cloud of Unknowing and ignatius spirituality both talk of the call to the mystery of God to and into the unknown. Mystery for us disciples of Jesus and me in specifically is not the unexplained,  but the willingness not to go home to the secure. 

I understand why Jonah ran in the other direction (I have) don't be hard on Thomas he knew what he knew and it made sense to him ( it does to me) hey why wouldn't the decsiples want good seats in the kingdom, (many of us do) non of them were sure of going with the mystery. 

To be sure is what I want, mystery is what God offers. So far I'm happy I did not go home.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Rach2 September 2016 at 10:10

    You have to write a book at some point Nigel....seriously....

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Response To Bishop North

A while back Bishop Phillip North spoke to New Wine and caused a bit of a reaction one of it was a Tweet to my millions of followers. In response I had a phone call from The Church Times asking for a quote because I serve in a poor parish, I declined and said I would put a more considered response on my blog, so here it is with a link to The Bishops full talk. https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2017/4-august/news/uk/there-s-a-future-for-the-church-if-evangelicals-put-the-poor-first-bishop-north-tells-new-wine 1.      One of the issues the church does not recognise is the exportation of people , talents and money from parishes like mine to middle class parishes which is draining and demanding on leadership. For 10 years I thought I was building a community, then it dawned on me I was building people up to go to other places. 2.      Bishop Phillip talks of abandonment of the poor: I think it’s more complicated than that. When ...
9 comments
Read more

Two thoughts

My two thoughts for the morning. As the BBC moves to replace the CofE as the national church of no belief, as parts of the BBC becomes more irrelevant in the new world is it possible The BBC will consume itself with its left wing cynical view? When the issue of faith is shown the back door and told not to come back who will the new priests and priestess pour their cynicism on? Perhaps themselves? For we all need the other voice who we don’t agree with to gain a greater understanding of who and what we are.  History tells us every regime needs someone to bully Secondly, will The Church not be better without these platforms of privilege? When we are no longer welcome on the platform of privilege as will happen at some point, will we not need to shape up to redefine what we believe, what we have to share, what we don’t need? Privilege tends to make you slow on your feet, breed chummy inward looking relationships, privilege steals from people the ability to move under the defining cult...
3 comments
Read more

YWAM Nensa

Mercy Air trip to  YWAM  Nen s a ,  Mozambique The  first mission trip of our  ‘ new normal ’   in South Africa  happened last week.   Azarja , our pilot, flew the team ;  which included Bruce, Stephen, Erin and Nigel  in the Cessna 310. We traveled from Mercy Air; to Kruger International (to exit SA); to Beira (to enter Mozambique); then on to Marromeu (12 hours total, including long waits for permits and visas – This is Africa!)   The drive by car ( in a  4x4) would take about 3 days on some very difficult ,  non-tarmac roads.  Allison and Leanna  drove  the final  1  1/2  hours  from Marromeu  to the YWAM base  at  Nensa .  As a rookie African  M ission ary,  I did  initially   feel a bit like Michel Palin without the film crew. The common red sand  road,  so   many people walking into the dark , headlamp beams throwing themsel...
4 comments
Read more