A Spirituality of Travel

Throughout the Bible the people of God are always on the move.  Even when they came to settle down in the promised land, they were to affirm every year as part of their identity that “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor…”  Deuteronomy 26:5 

When God chose a people to help carry out the plan of salvation, God’s first word to Abram was Go.  “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’…So Abram went,…”  Genesis 12:1, 4a 

I guess you could call that the first mission trip of all time, and it was God’s idea.  Perhaps God wanted Abram to leave everything familiar behind and go to an unknown place, so that he would have to listen more carefully to God for direction.  The reason he was to go was to serve God’s purpose, regardless of whether he fully understood the plan.   Apparently, part of God’s purpose was also to test and strengthen the faith of Abram. 

Traveling to unknown places, away from usual routines, familiar surroundings and our comfort zones opens us up to see and hear things differently.  It is like living in an ever-changing equation where the only constants are God and you.  I believe that is a major reason why mission trips can be such spiritually rich life-changing experiences.

Apparently God thought Abram would be a better servant to God’s purpose if he was away from home and relatives and familiar ways of doing things.  Jesus seems to have had the same idea when he called Peter, Andrew, James and John to leave their fishing boats, Matthew to leave his tax office, and Nathaniel to give up sitting around under a fig tree.  Even after he called them, Jesus didn’t settle down in one place to teach his disciples.  He was constantly traveling around all over Judea.

Maybe it’s because the surroundings, the people and the expectations are unfamiliar that people on mission trips are a little more open to new things happening.  Maybe they rely more on God to get them through uncertain situations.  Maybe it is easier for God to get our attention and to work on changing things in us when everything else is unfamiliar. 

Whatever the reasons, there is much biblical evidence pointing to a kind of  “spirituality of travel.”  Many times in the Bible significant revelations from God take place after people have been called away from their usual surroundings and routines, as when Moses turned aside to see the burning bush more closely. 

Responding to the call to serve God’s purpose is what matters most.  It is important to put ourselves and our gifts at the service of God’s mission.  After that, it doesn’t much matter whether we are sent across the globe or across the street.  Both local and global mission efforts serve God’s purpose.

So today, as we sat in the Mettu Church in Ethiopia, eight time zones and two continents away from Shenandoah, enjoying a three and a half hour ordination service, we prayed for two other mission teams from our Presbytery that are beginning their travel and service this weekend to help rebuild storm damaged homes.  Winchester First and churches of the Mountain Valley Mission Community are headed for New Orleans, and Mossy Creek and churches of the Central Valley Mission Community are headed for North Carolina. 

We are including some pictures from Ethiopia.  We know that even at this great distance we are still united in the mission that we share, because Jesus chose to use God’s first word to Abram as the first word of his Great Commission:  “Go… and make disciples of all nations,…”  Matthew 28:19a: