Summer is vacation time. Everywhere in the northern hemisphere, people find summer a great time to take a break from the normal routine, to do something different. We usually think of going somewhere, and the great things we’ll do when we get there. When we get there, we do have a good time, we take lots of pictures and videos, and we share them with friends, family and Facebook. As the vacation fades into the past, we begin to think about the next one, where we will go, what we will see, and, again, what a great time we will have.
In our vacations, the destination is usually the most important factor in our planning. Sometimes we’ll fly to it, to be able to make the most of our time there. Even when we drive, most often it will be on high-speed interstate highways, again, to get there as quickly and economically as possible. While we may enjoy the scenery along the way, it is usually secondary to “getting there.”
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Many centuries ago, before vacations were even heard of, a man climbed into a boat on a shore; twelve of his followers joined him in the boat as they cast off. The boat drifted into the open and ferocious waters, where it was thrown and tossed about. Many days and seventy-five miles later, the boat came ashore, all of its occupants safe in a new land. The leader and his followers had no idea where they were, but thanked God for the safe journey and arrival. The new land was inhospitable…rocky, stormy, cold…hardly a place for human settlement. Yet, settle they did, and their legacy comes to us through the years for us to consider.
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You see, the man’s name was Columba. Having been thrown out of the church and into exile, he and his friends in faith left northern Ireland, setting out without destination in the middle of the sixth century. They ended up on the island of Iona, in the Scottish West Hebridean islands, where they founded an abbey. The restored abbey operates today as a retreat center, visited by thousands of Christian pilgrims every year. Columba would later be declared a saint by the church.
Columba’s journey is an excellent example of the ancient Celtic tradition of peregrinatio, a wandering for the love of God. One would leave the homeland, forsaking family and possessions, giving him(her)self up to God. Route and destination were unimportant; what was important was that a person would surrender to God’s will for him(her), without regard for their own life or future. The contrast with our modern vacations couldn’t be greater!
Columba and the Celts teach us that in living a life of faith we turn ourselves over to God, giving up control of our lives to God’s will, and depending on God’s loving provision for us, all to a greater purpose than we can know. How many of us could do that? How many are willing to go on a trip without knowing where we’ll end up, or how long it will take us to get there? How many of us would take seriously the advice Jesus gave to the young rich man: Sell what you own and give it to the poor (Matthew 19:21)? Who has even begun?
Living our faith is far from easy; indeed, the gospel doesn’t promise a comfortable faith. Today’s purveyors of the “prosperity gospel” or the “warm and fuzzy gospel” or any of the other perversions of the gospel do not misunderstand it; they are purposely misrepresenting it for their own narcissistic purposes. They are heretics, and worse. If the gospel doesn’t make people extremely UNcomfortable, they’re not getting it.
The “good news” is that the gospel offers its own rewards. Join the revolution for the Kingdom (Reign) of God and know that you are in the place where God has led you. Know that your whole life has prepared you for this moment!
Rev. John Ransom is Pastor of Living Faith Community Church in Dunedin (www.livingfaithdunedin.org) and host of the Emerging Spirit internet-based Voices of Justice (www.emergingspirit.info).
