...my ancestors were homeless refugees.... Rob Bell


I was thinking that I needed to return to my blog...not just need to, but really want to. So as I was listening to a sermon from Mars Hill(see side bar for link) this quote jumped out at me. That's us...not to belittle the obvious real trials of refugees fleeing their countries due to war, famine or other natural disasters, but that we are wanderers and there is a history of wandering inherited through our faith.

Currently, we have nearly successfully downsized into an apartment. The area of the apartment is somewhat short of 700 square feet... that's more than 100 square feet per person- not bad! The space is organized with a couple of key flash-points. The counter of the dresser in our bedroom is always cluttered...any suggestions? And the craft/school room is in need of an inventory; so it's still in process. Other than that we are snug above my folks for the time being...for how long...can't say...but that's the nature of being a wanderer.

The story of wanderers always touches me. Abraham and Sarah on the move are just well known figures who are representative of many people who live nomadic lives today...Bedouins...Roma...Masai...Tibetans...

While we lived in England I became familiar with a term that was used to describe nomads living in the English context...travellers. No...I didn't just misspell traveler. But those people who traditionally may have been called Gypsies...or more correctly Roma or less specifically transients, drifters, ... all fall under the term travellers. As I was looking for support for settling in I continued to see the term and programs specifically aimed at these people. I thought the term dear and thought, "Yes...that's what we are...travellers." Only later did I discover that the term was generally used in disdain for a people who were looked upon as a nuisance.

This is the story of Nomads in conflict with the tendencies of the main stream. And as I wonder about the origins of 'cities' I recall the story of Cain...the one who slay his brother Abel. He is the first man who is attributed with the distinction of building a city. He named it Enoch, after his son (for more details see Genesis Chapter 4). You see, God had told Adam and Eve to fill the earth...but Cain, as was his habit, tried to live life his own way, he built a city to gather together.

There is some measure of security in living together with others. In times more uncertain than our own...yes, there were ages plagued by far greater insecurity for the common man...banding together made sense. You could take care of each other, defend each other, share with each other...and in order to do that you needed to live in closer proximity to others. Yet, there was still a very real connection to the land. It was the land that provided everything for life. You can see the way that land was allotted in long narrow strips so that homes could all be built at a common end, was a way of facilitating community while still living off your own land.

...now nomads...they experience life from a different perspective... The land is communal; it is shared space...belonging to all and not to any. This makes everyone responsible for use and abuse of the land. The principle of walking lightly on the earth is common sense to these kinds of communities. Since they see the land as shared, implicit in this is the fact that the resources need to be enough for all...there must be enough to go around...so the attitude becomes there is room for all.

Interestingly, nomads have always had and continue to carry the burden of being marginalized and misunderstood by the societies that they travel through. Most refugees can bear this experience out...not able to go home and yet not able to belong where they stay...powerless and at the mercy of the world around them. I think that through the ages Christians have found themselves in this position...even today Christians continue to be "not able to go 'home' and not able to belong where they stay.

Maybe I am generalizing my own experience... Life always seems easier to handle when I remember that I am heading towards home. That way I am not expecting to arrive just yet and it changes what I expect here and now. I was particularly saddened in a conversation that expressed disdain in the attitude that "this world is not my home"... The reality is that this world is not my home and so I can move through the world as a nomad coming and going as I am sent or called.

The past six months have been difficult for a number of reasons, but one is that I think I lost sight of the fact that we are one journey and any stop on the way is temporary whether that means days, weeks, months or years. I need to revisit my attitude and adjust my vision so that I can say with joy and conviction that I am heading home and so that it's okay if I don't belong wherever I find myself.


In the meantime, as I am working it out, I find comfort in the fact that there is a home waiting for me:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." - John 14:1-4

and everything I need will be there for me:

...an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you! - 1 Peter 1:4

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." - Revelation 21:3-4

I think if I can truly embrace this reality I will be able to live a simpler and more satisfying life in the midst of the disappointments of life. I suppose as you follow my blog you might be able to draw your own conclusions as to whether I can apprehend this reality...or not!