One of the first church services held in Wellington was at Petone. It was 1840. The ships carrying the early settlers had anchored near Somes Island and the people had begun to come ashore. Under the shade of a karaka tree, forty or so gathered, and there the Reverend John Macfarlane led them in worship.
‘It was a beautiful calm day,’ one person was to write, ‘not a cloud to be seen in the sky, and the sun shone forth in its meridian splendour…
‘There was no Sabbath bell to call the congregation together, but the song of the bell bird could be distinctly heard above all the songsters of the grove.’
Those words were read out yesterday morning at the memorial cross in Petone. A group of 100 or more people were there as part of the 150th celebrations of our Diocese. And although the winter sun was obscured by the morning clouds, and the birdsong drowned out by the noise of passing traffic, we felt connected to those who had walked this way before. Like them, we too were pilgrims!
One highlight for me of yesterday’s walk was the conversations along the way. We were a mixed bunch of people, councilors and clergy and clerks and so on. Not the sort of crowd you would expect to change the world. But as we spoke, it soon became apparent that there are many people out there who have been inspired by the Christian story and in a wide variety of ways are seeking to be good news in their communities and their homes. This filled me with hope.
The theme of journeying is also found in our readings.
The people of Israel were not long out of Egypt. There they had lived as slaves until Moses led them into the wilderness. They grumbled, of course, as people do with short memories; but then at Mount Sinai, God spoke to Moses and told him to tell the Israelites they were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Set free from their fetters, they were to walk with God into the future.
Jesus, likewise, spent much of his time wandering the dusty paths of Galilee. He was known for his powerful oratory, his ability to heal, and his compassion on those forgotten or abused by those with the authority to act. But then having invited an earthy bunch of men to follow him, instructing them in the values of the kingdom and showing them the power of God’s love, he sent them off on their own. They were not exactly the team I would have picked for a job like this, but Jesus put his trust in them and they stepped up to the challenge.
And Paul, a traveler at heart, took Jesus’ message to the centre of the Roman world. He was not concerned so much for his own life. He knew he had nothing to lose. He lived by faith, and was a man of immense courage, for he knew that what mattered most was the life of God within us, which nothing could destroy.
So, the Israelites, Jesus, the disciples, and Paul, were people on a journey. In a physical sense, they were like those early settlers, risking all for the promise of a better life, but theirs was also a spiritual journey. Their outward lives reflected a journey within. Just as they had left the familiar to travel into the unknown, so God called for a transformation of their inner lives. They had to let God take the helm and to steer them through the unchartered waters of the interior being.
Evelyn Underhill, a 20th century mystic who we remember today, speaks in this way of the spiritual life. It is to be ‘drawn at [God’s] pace and in [God’s] way to the place where [God] wants us to be: not the place we fancied for ourselves.’
Well, our walk up the river ended with a service at St John’s Church in Trentham. Built in 1861, we were told how it is the oldest church in Wellington still used as a place of public worship. But it was a sign in the graveyard that really caught my attention. It said simply, ‘Anglican pilgrimage. The journey ends here for today, but continues tomorrow…’
It was a subtle reminder our journey is not over. Both within and without, the work of Christ must go on. Just as the disciples of old were sent into the towns and villages to proclaim the reign of God’s love, so we, filled with the Holy Spirit, are to be good news to those we meet on life’s way.
As the refrain of a hymn we sang yesterday says: ‘The tui calls us on to sing the Spirit song and shine the Christ light strong, for we are pilgrims.’
A sermon preached at St Alban’s on Sunday 15th June 2008