 Churches Reflecting Together!
At the end of November 2008 about 50 Christians from eight city centre churches gathered at the Cedar Centre in Castor for the annual Advent Reflection Day. The congregations take it in turns to invite the speaker and this year Rev John Rackley, minister of Manvers Street Baptist Church, in Bath, chose as his theme: God of our Places. John regularly leads retreats and months of guided prayer and he was in good form!
During the day we prayed, read, ate, talked and worshipped God together. It’s so good to get together like this: there are always new people to meet, old friends to re-connect with and the Cedar Centre is a warm, comfortable meeting place on a cold, November day.
During the afternoon session John introduced a story, based on work by Michael Jacobs of Leicester University, called The Journey. We spent quite a while discussing our responses and considering the significance of the hill, the ruined building and the identity of the traveler. It is a lovely, thought-provoking piece of writing. We post it here in the hope that YOU might enjoy thinking about it too.
The Journey
Once upon a time a traveler was walking alone across deserted countryside. He saw through the morning mist, on the horizon, the outline of what appeared at first to be a craggy hill. But it was far from clear. As the traveler slowly approached the hill its dark outline took on different shapes and meanings like a fantastic stone creature. At another point it became clearer and it was evident it was a building on a hillside. But the kind of building it might be was still not clear. Was it a castle or was it an even more ancient monument? At this distance, the traveler could only interpret what little the eyes could see through fantasy and imagination.
As the walker got nearer he caught up with a band of ramblers. Here was an opportunity for companionship along the way. They had a map and several of them knew about various aspects of the landmark ahead. It was marked on the map as an old monastery, and several fellow-travelers told our walker about the style of building, the life of the people that used to live there, the lives of some of the most famous monks and the history of the decline of the order.
Our traveler eagerly absorbed this information. Fantasy and imagination was being replaced by reality. This was assisted, partly by the seeing the hill closer; and partly by what the information of the people who knew more about it. The company was pleasant. The party stopped at places along the way; the traveler listened to their tales and for a time, fell in with the customs of the group.
After awhile the traveler began to feel restless. There was a certain `know it all' quality to the companions - and in any case, they made it clear that their route took them a mile or two away from the path to the monastery on the hill. The traveler wanted to take a closer look and so left the group to take a different way, setting out once more alone.
As the ground rose, and the ruins came into focus, the traveler realised that some of what the ramblers had said was true; the architecture was indeed late gothic, and the site and the layout of the building indicated that it was such and such a community. But in other respects, the ramblers had some details wrong, since they had gone on what they had been told, and they appeared not to have explored the site for themselves.
The traveler was fascinated nonetheless and went back to the nearest village for the night; and returned the next day, seeing the building in a new light. Each time approaching the hill by different paths, and seeing new perspectives and details on every visit. Understanding was replaced by more understanding.
The traveler stayed some time in the neighbourhood, and began to meet other people who also visited the hill and its ruins. At night, they talked with each other around the fire. They shared the way they saw things and they disagreed sometimes about the factual details surrounding the place, and at other times about the way they interpreted them.
But they also learned from each other, because they did not spend their time trying to change each other's minds. Instead they explored the subject together, mutually helping each other by asking probing questions, all the time discovering that the place was capable of myriad understandings. They realised that even if they stayed there for weeks, the hill and its ruins would always have new secrets to reveal.
This is a story based on work by Michael Jacobs in his book: Living Illusions 028104702
For reflection
How do you respond to it?
Does it remind you of experiences you have had?
What is the significance of the hill and ruined building in the story?
How do the people treat the hill?
What does the story say about being the Church?
Who is the Traveller?
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