Many of you have welcomed me, a stranger from the East (but a born Midwesterner). Thank you! I especially appreciate concerns for my travel/commute from Connecticut and my residence and travel while here. (Yes, my wife Nancy will join me some trips.) Mt. Carmel’s “Grace Place” is my temporary home. St. John’s, Jackson, is providing a car starting next week. Milwaukee is a great place to live and serve.
I will be writing a short piece, “Weekly Word,” on the synod website. Today’s is about travel. Nothing exposes you more to your own needs and foibles than traveling. Finding your way, making mistakes, forgetting needed items, feeling dumb. That’s my first few weeks. I remembered Abraham.
In Genesis 12 our travel begins with Abraham and Sarah. These phrases stick out from that chapter: “Leave your country, your father’s home, go to a land I will show you, he started out, traveled through the land, after that he moved on, with his wife and everything he owned, and moved from place to place until he reached Bethel, where he had camped before and had built an altar.” Bethel-- house of God, in Hebrew. “There he worshipped the Lord.” (Gen. 13:4)
Travel is in our spiritual genes but often submerged as we find security in houses and churches. It might be better if our altars were outside. It might be better to be portable. Traveling exposes us, loosens us from secure footings, necessitates dealing with others, strangers, newness, diversity. The bible is the narrative of God’s people on the move, often in transition, mostly in unknown settings. The Gospels portray Jesus seldom in church and often on the way. Early Christians were first called followers of The Way.
Pastor’s are called to public ministry, which doesn’t mean street preaching, but it does mean we are open to the public. Lay persons experience this every day. They are our “traveling team.” On the move, you are tangible evidence of Christ--on the way to Calvary, to the poor, to the feeding of 5,000, to the stormy sea. Thank you for you traveling witness.