Sermon Preached at All Saints, Datchworth

The Nun's Story.

Today is about moving on into the unknown.

The Bible story itself is about a journey, about movement.

• Adam and Eve were sent away from Eden – disobedience
• Cain exiled to the land of Nod for killing his brother
• Abraham left family and home and set out for a land of which he knew nothing;
• Moses led people from slavery almost to the Promised Land, only for them to be brought back as slaves centuries later and for the whole process to begin again.
• St Paul was called by God as he journeyed to persecute the Early Church
• Jesus’ life journey which eventually brought him to Jerusalem and finally, back home, to the Father.
  

Indeed, this is the journey that we have been called upon to make for ourselves.

However, sometimes even those who profess to be Christians don't know where they're going and some just don't know how to get there. Jesus said the same, more or less, in St John's Gospel (Chapter 8), when he told the Jews: "you do not know whence I come or whither I am going."

All here really want to get to the Promised Land, New Jerusalem.

Don't really know how to get there.

Bit like driving to Scotland, I suppose. We know roughly where it is and roughly in which direction to travel (though judging from my kid's geography marks, I wonder how they manage to make it home from school most of the time). If I step outside of my front door, there are signs for Chells, the town centre, Pin Green and other parts of Stevenage, but none for Scotland, and so I have to set off in a general direction.

Even then, once I'm on the motorway, there's probably no sign for Scotland until I get somewhere close.

Bit like walking in the dark; we look into the distance and see only the light of a road lamp and so we head for that light, but in between there is only uncertainty and fear, until we reach the next pool of light, where we can feel a little more secure and safe.

Notice on the motorway,

A reflection of the Christian community at large - some move faster in their faith, some slower; some are younger and in better spiritual condition, but we all travel on the same road. Others join motorway at different places, coming from directions, perhaps like the many denominations that believe in Christ.


Unfortunately –

The road is a long one - at times it is a wide three-lane highway, where we can really put our foot down in our Christian journey. Sometimes, though, it can become a single lane, slowing us down to a crawl, or there may be obstructions or road works that can test your patience and even your resolve to continue. And, then, there are accidents, when two or more vehicles collide, just as Christians argue, whether as individuals or as denominations.

As Christians

Whatever we are called to be, God keeps us well fuelled up with His Holy Spirit but a is up to us to keep our vehicles in roadworthy condition, to keep our fuel tanks topped up and to make sure that our atlases - in this case, the Bible - is always up to date.

The journey is a necessary one if we are to find the eternal life that God has promised. We cannot sit and wait in comfort for God to do all the work. It's like they say in the lottery, "You have to be in it to win it." Let it never be said that we here at All Saints lack the drive or the fuel to start out on that road. And let's start out on that journey now, today, just in case the Lord demands our soul sooner rather than later.

The Promised Land is not Scotland, beautiful though it may be. Out goal is God Himself and, in John's gospel, Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no--one comes to the Father but by me." Our journey is not necessarily a physical one, but a spiritual one and therefore the movement of which I speak this morning starts and ends here, within us. With Jesus as our guide, we cannot get lost. St Augustine of Hippo said: “A person who does not travel is like a man who reads only one page of a book."