Preview(S): The Journey...We're Goin' to Wally World!

      Each summer we have the dual blessing of my wife being a school teacher who has summers off, and the fact that the church schedule (kind of) slows down for the summer season.  This means we get to engage in that all-American experience:  the family vacation.  Kristie and I take time to get away ourselves when the kids are all at camp, but most of our travel comes in the variety of the family vacation.  When you travel with four kids, the youngest just out of diapers, it isn't like it was when you were young and single.  A young person can pack in a matter of minutes and be ready to go with very little more trouble than asking the neighbor to drop in and water the plants.  A parent who travels has to be a little like the general of an invading army.  You need to consider supply lines, housing, assign a quartermaster to distribute snacks, plan your attack based on how often you are going to need to have a potty stop, and most of all you need to be able to pack a minivan like a boss.    

     Over the years my wife and I have become the masters of minivan Tetris and we can fit nearly anything in the back of a van.  I am always amazed at what qualifies as a "necessity" when traveling with the family. Everything from blankets and pillows to air-hockey tables (that is the device with the green legs in the mid-left hand side of the van) gets loaded into the ol' minivan under the auspices of  "necessity".  It is the rare Yoak family vacation that begins without at least one return to the house after mere blocks of travel to retrieve an unpacked necessity.  Our mantra as we leave town behind, too far to reasonably return to retrieve anything more, is "there's a Walmart everywhere."  Items can be replaced.  We have even been known to travel with back-up copies of beloved stuffed animals secretly hidden in our luggage in case the original goes mysteriously missing at bed time. 
   Of course once you get on the road and all the supplies are

packed the trip is never as easy as all of that.   First of all there is the Secret-Alliance-of-Juvenile-Bladders which maintain a carefully negotiated treaty that specifically states that children have to space out their bathroom breaks to be as inconvenient as possible. Then, there is the inevitable country road that leads to at least one child becoming car-sick...most likely because they were staring at a personal electronic device despite being told emphatically by their father (me) that under no circumstances are they to be on personal electronics or reading while traversing a winding country road. And then there is the almost certain guarantee that no one fast food restaurant will fulfill everyone's deepest held lunch desires leading to looking for exits with multiple fast food joints to maximize the odds of finding just the right drive through to satisfy everyone. All of which hardly matters, as they all order chicken nuggets no matter where we go from McDonalds to a Michelin-Star restaurant. 
    This is why when, in 1983, Clark W. Griswold (played brilliantly by Chevy Chase) announces to his family that they are taking a trip to Walley World most of America alternately laughed and cringed at the events of National Lampoon's Family Vacation. It was at once equal parts hilarious and painfully true.  With all of that said, I have to admit to the fact that I, like Clark before me, love a good family vacation.  Potty breaks, sick kids, missing do-dads, and the

trials of satisfying the finicky palates of kids aside I am in it for the experience of traveling together.  The world may be divided into those who are in it for the destination, and those who say it is less about the destination and more about the journey, but I am in the travel game for neither of the above.  I am in it for the company. I have done my share of traveling (more than most) and a lot of it I have done alone.  I have to say, I am not a fan of that. Doing things together is what I am looking for and being on a journey helps to filter out all of life's little distractions and distill the family experience down to the wonderful concentrated time that can only be spent together when far away from day to day life.  
    As I get older I am all the more aware that the most valuable resource I have is time, and we all have too precious little of it. With the time I have I realize that I want to spend as much of it as I can, not in pursuit of goals...or if you will, destinations, nor engaged in the pursuit for its own sake...or if you will, the trip itself.  No, I really care about WHO I am journeying with.  When the early church began to organize itself they shared this point of view.  In fact Acts tells us that:

Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

    The early church went straight to communal living without pausing at simple membership.  They knew that they were on an amazing journey together that had a fabulous destination but what mattered at the moment was that they could do it together.  They ate together. They lived together. They even owned their possessions together.  In short, it was a family vacation.  
    The early church knew that the thing we are engaged in, that Jesus called the Kingdom of God, isn't something that we undertake alone. There is no such thing as a one man wolf pack... even one of

the dumbest, most obscene movie franchises in history (The Hangover) got that one right. When folks tell you that they can practice the Christian faith outside of the Christian community just as well as inside they are expressing confusion about what the faith is about. Jesus did not give his life in order that we might enjoy personal salvation. That is mere self interest and greed if we think about it in those terms. Jesus died to establish a forgiven kingdom in which all could come to see themselves as the sons and daughters of God the Father; forgiven and redeemed by the blood of God the Son; bound together by the one and same God the Holy Spirit. Time and time again Jesus uses imagery of shepherds and sheep to illustrate this:

John 10:7-10  So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

    A shepherd has one job:  keep the sheep safe:  safe from thieves, safe from wolves, safe from their own stupidity. For a shepherd that means keeping the sheep together, and keeping them moving. 

    One of my favorite shows used to be Firefly.  If you are unfamiliar with it don't feel bad, it only got one season before being cancelled... but it was great.  Just imagine a western and a outer-space action drama squished together.  One of the main characters, indeed the conscience of the crew of the spaceship Serenity, was a man called Shepherd Book. Shepherd was not his name, it was his title.  He was a pastor who came on board the ship to travel and spread the gospel.  Since the Latin word for shepherd is "Pastor"  the show just translated the name to keep things interesting.  I have always thought it would be great to be called "Shepherd Rus" since that really is what pastors do:  we try to keep the flock together. 

    In the end we all look to someone for leadership and guidance, even (and especially) your pastor.  We all need someone to point us to the best place to be, the safest place to be, the place where wholeness can be found.  For the Kingdom of God that person is Jesus himself, the great shepherd of the sheep. We, his sheep, need his leadership to find our way on this journey, but we also need each other as well.  You see this trip we are on is not just about the destination we are heading toward, it is not just about the sights we see on the way.  It is about the people we share it with: our family of God. Jesus came to call home all of the sheep.  He said that the sheep know his voice and come to his call.  He said that he came that we may have life and have it abundantly.  

    Over the next few weeks I will be talking about seeing our faith life, indeed our participation in the Kingdom of God, as a journey. The first piece to that is knowing that you don't journey alone. Maybe you feel like you do. Maybe you feel like there is no place you belong. Maybe you feel like you are a lone sheep off in life's wilderness and you can't seem to find a flock.  Don't be afraid. Your shepherd will not abandon you and he will draw you to himself just as he has drawn us all.  Know that you have brothers and sisters in the faith at every corner of the world and though we may not know each other we are all on this trip together. If you let the great shepherd lead you, I know that he will bring you together with your fellow sojourners where you will be welcomed with open arms and open hearts. We are family.  You are never alone.

    Thank you for reading and, if you enjoyed it, please hit the "subscribe" at the top of the page. As always, please remember to share and leave a comment. Thanks again. God Bless.


Pastor Rus.