The theme of journey is one that's been used often around the pandemic, and it's still an image that is helpful as we look to get our bearings in the changing landscape of managing Covid risk and hoping to get back to 'normal.'
The Bible describes all sorts of journeys, but one of the most significant is the Exodus that the Children of God made through the wilderness, as God released them from captivity in Egypt. After 40 years of journey, a new generation finally crossed into the promised land. And it's a journey that foreshadows our own Christian walk, coming from a place of captivity, up through the water of baptism into a journey with Jesus where we learn to trust God and know him in greater measure.
But the journey of the children of God through the wilderness also resonates with the current journey we're on, out of the pandemic. At the start of this year we were back in lockdown, but as increasing numbers of us are vaccinated, especially the most vulnerable, there's been a sense of release. We're still journeying and the landscape is different now than it was before Covid, with new considerations, concerns and, especially, uncertainty. There's not only Covid, but also the terrible situation in Afghanistan, climate chaos, and divisions in society, highlighted in the Black Lives Matter movement and seen in so many other spheres - think of the gap in exam grades between private schools and comprehensives over the summer.
So as we journey through these uncertain times, we'll be exploring in our morning services how the Israelites found God in the wilderness, and trusting that we might discover Him there in greater measure, too.
You can read the rest of the newsletter here: Newsletter 020921
