Headspace was great on Sunday. We spent time refocussing on Christ. As part of our worship we did a "pilgrimage" around our local community, exploring Jesus's wilderness expereince and what it might mean for us. At the end of the service people were given space to write in the sand what they had learnt from the wilderness pilgrimage.
Download wilderness_pilgrimage.doc
We finished the service with a poem a friend Andy Stobbart wrote; I think you'll agree it's really beautiful.
Lord,
You are the God of those who wander.
Thankfully, you are the God of those who wander far from you,
of those who flee to the foreign land,
of those who try to escape the responsibilities of their lives and actions,
of those who prefer the alluring freedom of rebellion to the freeing allure of your love...
You are the God of those who wander into despair,
who wander in desperation,
lonely,
looking for something to captivate their attention,
to hold their gaze,
to give a goal and purpose for life...
You are the God of me -
I, who am that wanderer
in thought, in word, in deed,
in the deepest places of my being
in the thin veneer of my spirituality.
And you call me to wander yet.
As Abraham, to set out not knowing where the path may lead.
As Moses, to find myself with unknown responsibilities.
As Ezekiel, to roam through valleys of dry bones,
desperate for your vital voice.
You call me to wander, and to find
that the path I tred is trod before...
is trod again by Footsteps at my side.
To find that this road is the prodigal road
on which each child of you must tred
towards your heart.
And in this mobile world, this world of wanderers,
this world of wandering hearts and lives and feet,
Lord be my God and Saviour.
For you have trod the wandering path,
the earth of the far away country,
the stony ground of the way back home.
Lord, if this is life - to wander -
then teach me how to wander well,
to wander down the road less travelled,
to wander with you,
for you,
back to you.
Andrew Stobbart
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