Old Ways & Something New

Currently making my way through the book Mission is the Shape of Water by Mike Frost. The sub-heading is ‘Learning from the past to inform our role in the world today’.

In the text, Frost seeks to delve into the ‘rich tapestry’ of Christian history to discover how ‘context shapes mission’ and what we can learn from those who came before us. He draws from all corners of the globe, from early Christians in the Middle East to modern movements like the Order of the Mustard Seed that take inspiration from the past (in this case the story of Zinzendorf and the Moravians), and I’m left wondering that perhaps reimagining contextual mission isn’t as pioneering as we’d like to expect. Perhaps we do need to look back before looking forward.

Was our old friend Solomon was right after all?

What has been will be again,

what has been done will be done again;

there is nothing new under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 1:9

If its all been done before, with some success and some failure, there might just be treasure for us to uncover.

I think Frost has some compelling things to say in this book. Indeed, scripture and all history itself paint a compelling picture of the over-arching story that God is writing, a story of redemption and renewal that began in a garden, by a river; has seen birth-death-resurrection again and again; experienced triumph, defeat, beauty and agony in equal measure; and one that will end one day, once again with a river, the River of Life that is pure and will nourish all living things. Metaphor or not, that’s something to hope for.

And so, as our story continue to unfold through the ages, we who now inhabit this very specific, unique place in time and space find ourselves in familiar territory, unsure of how to proceed. Have we not learned from the past, were we not listening, paying attention? I’m wondering if we’re paying attention to the wrong things. We’re in an age where we can’t seem discern these new, polarised landscapes, these extremes that we feel forced to choose between – conservative/liberal, religious/non, fundamental/progressive.

I’m wondering if this strange landscape we’re navigating is calling for us to draw from the words of two major prophets of the Hebrew scripture, Jeremiah and Isaiah.

In the words of the Weeping Prophet, we called to ‘Stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it. You will find rest for your souls’ (Jer 6:16).

We are indeed at a crossroads of sorts. Many paths entice us, lead us off in different directions. But there are paths that have been travelled by the friends of God before us. These ancients knew the God who delivered them from captivity, God who they discovered was faithful and true, God who created and purposed them, God who illuminated the path and led them, God who saved them and provided for them, God who proved to be a refuge and a shelter, God who called them by name and revealed Himself to them.

Can we truly say that we have the same confidence in God today? Is our confidence genuinely found in the one, true God, or have we put our faith and hope in the systems and institutions of our own making?

Jeremiah encourages us to ask. In that most humbling of postures, its worth acknowledging who we’re actually asking. Are we simply asking our peers, our leaders, those that the world celebrates as successful, the so-called experts? Or are we asking those spiritual elders who have walked this path before, those who carry the scars of loss and defeat but also the deep transformative reality of overcoming?

Have we even stopped to ask God himself?

Does our navigation process include this process laid out in Jeremiah: STOP. STAND. LOOK. ASK. WALK. FIND REST?

As you discern what missional endeavours your church community are involved in, as you pray about the future of your community, as you look where you are being called to, as you cast your eyes over an uncertain landscape, I invite you to remember this process. Let confidence grow within you, confidence of being called, led and held by God.

And then we must hold the ancient path in tension with the new things of God.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert. - Isaiah 43:19

Rivers again…..the river really is important to the story.

As I sit with this verse for a short moment, I’m drawn to ‘I’ in the first line. These prophetic words speak of the movements of God. He is doing the new thing, not left up to us. Do you have the confidence to trust that God is doing something in our world, always working? Or do you try and make it happen yourself? Because the question here is really important…..‘do you not perceive it?’

Are you perceiving what God is doing now, how He’s making a way through wilderness spaces, bringing nourishment to dry places?

Perhaps we would all ‘perceive it’ if we return to that helpful process from Jeremiah – STOP. STAND. LOOK. ASK. WALK. FIND REST.

This week you are tasked with introducing this process into your rhythm. Carve out some time to stop and stand still. Cease movement and productivity for a while. Look around, what do you see, what are you noticing? Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to. Then ask! Keep asking. A wise elder once said to me, don’t worry too much about right answers because most often, good questions simply lead to better questions. Jesus was/is an awesome question-asker. Gospel accounts record him as a consistently inquisitive person, always asking questions. Ask those tried and trusted sources, those from the ‘Old Ways’. And now get up and walk, take the first steps, stride out on these ancient paths. Are they nourishing the desert within you? Are you finding rest for your soul? Are you hearing the new song as you walk?

Do you perceive it?

Jon Timms

Director, Scotland and Northern England