One of my favourite Christian books, one that has enthralled me over many years is
Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress. The story is
of Christian fleeing the City of Destruction, moving towards the hill of the
cross, guided by key people he meets and eventually making his way to The
Celestial City. It is a story of chance
encounters. The characters he meets are
vivid and memorable; many wonderful guides, but also enemies who attack and imprison,
distracting and discouraging him from walking the King’s highway.
This year I am setting my heart on Pilgrimage: a walk from
Winchester Cathedral to York Minster over 12 days. My hope is to pray and worship my Creator but
also to meet a variety of people.
In preparation for this walk, I want to talk about my life upon
the Christian road and something of the characters I have met. I will caricature them, not in order to mock,
but to draw attention to traits you may find in others on your journey. My heart in this is to encourage and equip
readers to be an eschatological people, pressing heavenwards and being prepared
to meet other walkers on your way.
I dreamed a
dream, and in that dream I drew close to an old ragged cross and there I
encountered God in the person of his Son Jesus who saved me, clothed me in fair
raiment and pointed me to walk upon his narrow highway. But it was not long upon this path that I
came upon a man all in black with piercing blue eyes set in a thin, gaunt
face. His countenance was hard, his face
lined by the ages through which he had lived.
Beneath him the ground turned hard and behind him a tortuous line of
frosty footprints. He beckoned to me
with gnarled bony finger and drawing close was addressed with harsh gravelly
voice,
"And what pray are you doing upon this
Kings Highway? You look unsuited for such a long journey, your garments simple
and your rucksack too small to carry such burdens you must.”
"Sir, I am young and but days upon my pilgrimage,
and in need of counsel to aid me on my journey."
"Ah so rest awhile and let me help you
in the serious business of our faith" he said.
And so in that
place, I stripped naked, abandoning the simplicity of Joseph’s multi-coloured robe, and in
its place covered myself with the itchy hessian black overcoat of religious
pedigree. And so I sat, many a long
time, learning from my sage friend the vital badges of this new community of travellers I was
soon to be a part of. This included the
non-conformist uniform of polished shoes, suits, ties, short hair for men, long
for the ladies plus obligatory scarf, and the all-important jellyfish handshake
of greeting. I learned when to stand or
sit, to nod and Amen, to fast and tithe, as rule upon rule, list upon list and
tradition upon tradition was added to my load. I received the Law and was schooled in its mastery over me, were
I to attain a right standing before my Father in
heaven. I was bound to a liturgy
of austerity, spontaneity and informality. Joy vanished
in that classroom to be replaced by a grim stoicism, a life of No upon No,
blood, sweat and tears where so many of life's simple pleasures were now off
limits if I were not to find myself backsliding. What a sad condemned prisoner I became and
what a hypocrite. Straining at
microscopic religious gnats, I grew religiously fat by swallowing herds of
spitting camels.
I lived
condemned and condemning. A prisoner to
a perfect man and unable to see the path I had so happily started upon.
It was to be
many years before I happened upon the next amazing characters.....
Notes to
readers
We meet many religious well-meaning people upon life’s journey. Never forget that it was the religious people
who opposed and crucified the Lord of Glory.
Luke 11:39: "You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish but
inside you are full of greed and wickedness......you neglect justice and the
love of God.”
Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 2:8: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this
not from yourselves, it is a gift of God- not by works, so that no one can
boast.”
Galatians 2:21: “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if a righteousness
could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
