THE CAUSEWAY

One of the truly peculiar features of the place called “Holy Island” is the means by which visitors gain access to the island. Unlike most islands I have ever known, where people “connect” with the island from the mainland by means of a bridge, tunnel, or ferry, the way to get to Holy Island is by driving across a causeway that is open to traffic for only six or seven hours at a time.

The disruption is caused by the fact that the ebbing and the flowing of the tides which literally come across the causeway make it completely impassible. Every day people enter the island only during those periods when the tide is out. The rest of the time the island is cut off completely.

Day after day this phenomenon is repeated as the tides ebb and flow. Those who do not heed the tidal schedule, do so at their peril.

I can’t help but see this as a sort of parable that describes what faith is like for people who are followers of Jesus Christ. Faith, like the tides, ebbs and flows. Sometimes we feel strongly connected to God, unshakeable, and fully connected to the power of God. At other times, however, that connection seems to disappear completely, and it happens when we are not expecting it to happen.When our faith “ebbs,” we feel like we’ve become completely cut off from God and we wonder what has gone wrong.

How important it is for us to find out the tidal “schedule” that affects our lives of faith so we do not all of a sudden find ourselves cut off from the One who once seemed so close.

The tides of faith ebb and flow. It’s essential for us to know that. But it’s even more important that we know that, regardless of whether the tide is “in” or “out,” the causeway still remains in tact, keeping us connected with the One who loves us more than life itself. If we can remember that, then we will be able to live all day, every day, on the Holy Island where God has placed us, and that will always make the difference.

GRAVEYARDS OR GARDENS?

A common sight when visiting churches in the UK is the presence of graveyards that surround the parish churches. There’s nothing really strange or unusual about this. Churches are places where people have gathered together as communities of believers throughout their lives, and in many cases they include generations of believers who have lived in the parish for centuries.

It’s no wonder, then, that people might find their final repose in the same places.
It gives new meaning to the scripture in Hebrews that begins, “since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses . . .” It is a testimony to the fact that in death, as in life, we are all bound together with one another.

Visiting such places like the Church of St. Mary’s on Holy Island (Lindisfarne), teaches us a lot about the nature of being a Christian. Each grave has a story, a story much longer than a single gravestone could express. But the mere fact that they are actually there, surrounding the parish church which was the center of their lives while they were living, tells us how powerful a force the gospel can be in a believer’s life. As Paul writes in Romans, “None of us lives to himself, and none of dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

At home in Selden, our church, like most other Lutheran churches, is not surrounded by the graves of saints. Rather, it is surrounded by an equally powerful symbol that conveys a valuable lesson about who we are as a company of believers.

Hope is surrounded by gardens. There are beautiful flowers planted by “anonymous saints” who care about the message we have to proclaim to our members and the larger community. They want people to experience some of the beauty of God in the place where the saints gather together.

It’s true, of course, that there are seasons when the flowers are gone and the beauty seems to disappear completely. Even the waterfall and the pond we have sometimes freeze up when the winter temperatures are too cold.

But then again, the ice doesn’t last forever. When spring arrives, the trees revive and the flowers return, often more robustly than the year before. That too is a sign from God, like the graves in the graveyards, and it tells us that death does not and will not prevail over us. From beginning to end our lives are in God’s hands.

Graveyards and gardens, both tell a story, especially when they surround the places where God’s people gather. We should not take either of them for granted.

To be honest, however, I must admit that I like gardens better.

Whitby Abbey Medieval Ruins

HAIRCUTS AND HARD FACTS

It feels strange to be away from our homeland on the 4^th of July. But here we are, heading down to  Whitby Abbey, the place where a major event took place that changed the course of the development of the life of the Christian movement in England.

The event is called the “Synod of Whitby,” a conference of clergy gathered by the King of Northumbria who wanted to settle issues that caused conflict among Christians in his kingdom.

The issues they debated had to do with two subjects we would never spend a moment thinking about: how to determine the correct date for observing Easter and what form of tonsure (haircutting) should be required for those who lived in monasteries.

Underneath those issues was a much larger concern. Prior to the Synod, there was a collision between the missionaries sent to England by the Church of Rome from southern England and the Celtic missionaries who were moving into England from the north. Both missionary efforts were meeting with some success, but their approaches to “missionizing” the people of England were diametrically opposed to one another.

Rome wanted to be in control of what was going on, and Rome wanted everyone to give obedience to the Pope. The Celts, on the other hand, did not see the need to be under papal authority, and they were successful in converting pagans to Christianity because they were able to adapt their methods to the conditions they met along the way.

The issues that caused conflict in that day are not much different from the issues that we need to deal with as Christians today if we are going to have any impact on the non-Christian environment in which we live and serve. Do we need to be under the control of those who would require conformity and obedience to their norms and values? Or would we be more effective in carrying out God’s mission if we were willing to focus on the mission itself without having to be constantly looking back to patterns and practices that are no longer effective in reaching people who are apart from the church?

The Celtic form of evangelism was effective because what mattered most to them was getting God’s mission accomplished. In a time when the Church in the Western Hemisphere is in such serious decline, we could see a different future if we were willing to learn from those who went before us.

Views of Bamburgh Castle and North Sea

Today we visited a castle that was once a Castle for kings of Northumbria, the northern kingdom of England bordering Scotland. The castle goes back to Norman times, but a lot of reconstruction has taken place, especially during the Victorian era as seen in the photos.

The final photo is a sculpture of the priests who carried the body of Saint Cuthbert around Northern England prior to coming to its final resting place in Durham.

HAIRCUTS AND HARD FACTS

It feels strange to be away from our homeland on the 4^th of July. But here we are, heading down to Whitby Abbey, the place where a major event took place that changed the course of the development of the life of the Christian movement in England.

The event is called the "Synod of Whitby," a conference of clergy gathered by the King of Northumbria who wanted to settle issues that caused conflict among Christians in his kingdom.

The issues they debated had to do with two subjects we would never spend a moment thinking about: how to determine the correct date for observing Easter and what form of tonsure (haircutting) should be required for those who lived in monasteries.

Underneath those issues was a much larger concern. Prior to the Synod, there was a collision between the missionaries sent to England by the Church of Rome from southern England and the Celtic missionaries who were moving into England from the north. Both missionary efforts were meeting with some success, but their approaches to "missionizing" the people of England were diametrically opposed to one another.

Rome wanted to be in control of what was going on, and Rome wanted everyone to give obedience to the Pope. The Celts, on the other hand, did not see the need to be under papal authority, and they were successful in converting pagans to Christianity because they were able to adapt their methods to the conditions they met along the way.

The issues that caused conflict in that day are not much different from the issues that we need to deal with as Christians today if we are going to have any impact on the non-Christian environment in which we live and serve. Do we need to be under the control of those who would require conformity and obedience to their norms and values? Or would we be more effective in carrying out God's mission if we were willing to focus on the mission itself without having to be constantly looking back to patterns and practices that are no longer effective in reaching people who are apart from the church?

The Celtic form of evangelism was effective because what mattered most to them was getting God's mission accomplished. In a time when the Church in the Western Hemisphere is in such serious decline, we could see a different future if we were willing to learn from those who went before us.