“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”
This month we are telling stories about pilgrimages
Pilgrimages are journeys with a purpose, but a purpose that isn’t only defined by the destination. Pilgrims know that journey itself is as meaningful and important as the place they are travelling to. Here’s one from Phil:
There once was a boy called Matthew. He was sort of lad who would often be the last to be picked for the teams for any sport because he wasn’t very confident, and because of this he often got bullied or teased.
Matthew had asthma, and at first he couldn’t run around much and would often have to be excused from much of the sports. He would also get bad headaches and have to be sent from the classroom to sit in a dark room somewhere until his head stopped hurting.
One day in primary school he was in the assembly hall singing hymns with all the other kids, and one of the school bullies was in the row behind him, whispering rude things in his ear. Matthew got really mad, and something in him snapped.. He turned around and handed the other lad his hymn-book with his left hand. The rather bemused boy instinctively took the book, and as he did so Matthew hit him with his right hand.
Of course, the lad, more in shock than hurt, cried out pretty loudly and burst into tears. The two of them got marched out of the room and told to wait for the head teacher. And after the assembly Matthew was severely told off by the head and punished for his deed (in those days it was a sharp tap by a ruler on the hand). It all felt very unfair to Matthew.
A few years later he went to secondary school, and Matthew discovered that once again he was the object of attention of a school bully who seemed to like to pick on him. This bully would love to get the other boys running errands, taking messages to people, and generally making people afraid of him.
But now Matthew was quite a big chap, and he refused to do what the bully would get others in the class to do, so one day this chap decided to make an example of Matthew. He gathered a group of other bullies, and they waited in the changing rooms for Matthew to come in all tired from playing sports all afternoon.
Matthew walked into the changing rooms and was met by this group of lads. The big one said to him; ‘we’re going to teach you a lesson’. Matthew didn’t want to fight – but knew he would be beaten up anyhow, so he tried suggesting that they fight him one at a time.
‘Ok’ said the big lad. ‘Come on’. But they all charged at him at once.
Matthew didn’t know God, but he says he remembered praying and asking God for help. From nowhere, the biggest lad in the school appeared. He was captain of the rugby team (yes it was one of those private schools that played rugby). His name was Nick (who incidentally went on to play rugby for England). He immediately pounced on the ringleader and picked up him up and held him in the air while the rest of them ran away.
Nick warned this lad what he would do if he caught him bullying Matthew again, and let him go. Matthew was saved from a beating and left alone for the rest of his secondary school life.
Some years later Matthew became a follower of Jesus and was led to become a youth worker in London. One day he was running a youth club event where lots of young people were hearing about Jesus for the first time. After the event there were lots of youth milling around the venue. One angry young lad approached Matthew with a knife and warned him (with some colourful language) to shut up talking about Jesus and go away.
Now the thing was, Matthew had just read a book where something like this happened to someone else. In the book the person being threatened had said something about how, ‘even if you cut me into a thousand pieces, each piece would still shout Jesus loves you’. So Matthew said much the same words to this lad – and the effect was immediate. The lad walked outside, sat down, and started to weep.
Matthew followed him outside and spoke to the lad for some time about how much God loved him.
Some of you guessed by now that I’m Matthew. It’s my middle name. This is part of my journey.
Matthew used violence to deal with his fear at primary school – and was punished.
He hadn’t quite learned to trust God by secondary school – but God helped him when he prayed.
When he got to be a youth worker, he realized that life is not about how confident or unafraid you are, but about how bullied everyone is, and how loved we all are as well.
Because we are all in a battle – not with flesh and blood bullies, but with spiritual bullies.
Ephesians 6:12 says this; For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
There is a good reason to read the OT – it tells about battles with flesh and blood enemies, and I think that’s a really important observation, because clearly the Old Testament is intended to be a representation of what the New Testament is revealing to us as a spiritual truth. So our battle is not against flesh and blood, but the way that you fight against enemies that are not flesh and blood, is by observing the way in which the people of Israel fought against flesh and blood. That’s how you do it. That’s how you understand spiritual warfare – you look at the OT and there is a visual aid and you understand what to do.
So what is our journey into courage? Are we learning to fight – to wrestle – with unseen forces? Are we learning to take courage –
The dictionary defines courage as: ‘To have the courage of one’s convictions, to act in accordance with one’s beliefs, especially in spite of criticism.’
Of course courage is not always about tackling lions or big bullies. Courage can be about the everyday challenges of doing what is right on a daily basis. It’s not about feeling strong and the absence of fear. Its about how we face those fears. It’s not about the things that happen to us, but the choices we make in response that shape us.
My early journey has given me a ‘bully radar’ – I have an early warning system not just to the physical bullies of life but also the spiritual bullies. When I give that into Gods hands he often will give me strength to fight the ‘Lions’ a different way.
There are lots of different battles we each face, and if we learn to win a few then there is a good chance that we will set others free in the process.
So what does pilgrimage look like for you? What is your journey into courage this month?
Maybe it’s a difficult conversation.
Maybe it’s making a tough decision
Maybe it’s accepting some new level of responsibility
Push yourself gently, and as you do what for you are courageous things, so you open up the potential of an expanding virtuous circle – in which you are ready for even more courageous steps.
And as you grow – so will the people around you.