Vision and insight

Some reflections on Deuteronomy 34 for Sunday 23rd October 2011

I am not quite sure where I will be when you read this 
(you could check my personal blog
and I may have had opportunity to post)
but as I will be in the Holy Lands 
I will be considerably closer to the place where Moses died  than I normally am!
Although this chapter at the end of Deuteronomy 
tells us that we are not sure where 
the actual burial place was
This gave rise rise to the legend that he was taken up (assumed) into heaven
but how are we to know such a wonderful thing?


The figure of Moses towers over the Exodus story 
and the journey to the Promised Land.
But he dies before the great journey is completed, 
and it is left to Joshua, his successor, 
to complete the work.


We often make the observation
that it is not about the destination
it is about the journey.


This is true of Jesus
Although Jesus' journey is to Calvary
he is only briefly there (three hours)
as dramatic and climactic as the Cross is
it is not the ultimate destination.


He moves to it, though it, and beyond it.


We need to think about our own lives not as destinations
but as journey.
It is easy for me to do this this week
because I am in the midst of 
what is, for a Christian,
a pilgrimage.
Not a destination 
but a journey.
I will leave Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem
the sea of Galilee, Cana and Capernaum
behind.
They will have been important places.
But as St Augustine puts it
our hearts are seeking not a shrine
or a country
but they are restless until they find their rest in you, God
A modern commentator observes
there is also a sense in which God is restless until
God finds us
Can we stop and let God catch us?


THIS WEEK
Where am I missing God in my ordinary life's journey?
Am I seduced by false destinations, or lost commitment 
to keep journeying
Can I find some way today to offer myself more wholly to Jesus.