Skip to main content

Risk-taking Mission and Service - Five Practices No. 4

Risk-taking?  Me??

definitely not me!

I don't think so.  No heroic stories here of trekking through jungles to bring medical aid, or smuggling Bibles into hostile countries, or mentoring malnourished children in a deprived inner-city area.

The idea of taking risks reminded me of some thoughts I had about the story of Ruth.  Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Naomi, and Naomi's family had moved from Judah to Moab to escape famine. (This is way back in Old Testament times, you understand - probably about 1300 BC.)  Naomi's two sons had married local women, and everything was going fine, when suddenly Naomi's husband and both sons died, within a fairly short space of time.  Naomi, understandably, was heartbroken, and decided to return to her homeland.  Both daughters-in-law accompanied her a short way, but Orpah went home, while Ruth followed Naomi, pledging her devotion in a famous speech ("your people will be my people, and your God my God").

Most talks you hear about Ruth emphasise how difficult this must have been for her - leaving her home country and family, going to an unknown land - how brave! how dedicated! how selfless!

Study for Ruth Gathering Wheat by Edwin Long

But, you know, some decisions almost make themselves.  They might look brave and dedicated on the outside, but they don't feel like that on the inside.  When I met Graham, we lived in the same city for a few months, and then he announced he had just been offered a job in Texas.  The next stage of our relationship was mostly conducted by trans-Atlantic phone call, but when he proposed and I decided to move out and join him, it simply felt like the obvious thing to do.

Looking back, I can totally understand why some of my friends were a little concerned.  And of course, it wasn't entirely easy.  Graham still occasionally teases me about the fact that when the plane landed,  I was crying about leaving my housemate's pet rabbit!  Not to mention the housemate herself, with whom I had shared a house for five years - I would return to the UK at Christmas to celebrate her wedding, too.  But the decision itself didn't feel like a big risky leap into the unknown.  It felt like the next step on the path.  Maybe it was like that for Ruth, too.

gratuitous wedding photo

So risk-taking is a funny concept.  Something can look risky but not feel it.  Or it may feel like a huge risk, but to other people it seems like nothing.  Robert Schnase starts his chapter with the story of a couple who became curious about where all the homeless people went to.  After some enquiry they found out that they tended to congregate under a certain highway bridge, so the couple went there and started a monthly worship service.

Schnase uses this as an example of risk-taking mission - and from the outside, it certainly is.  But I can imagine that for the couple involved, it may have just been the next obvious step to take.

Further on, Schnase asks us to consider the question, "What have I done that I would not have done if it were not for my relationship with Christ?"  That's an interesting one when you've been a Christian all your life!  Most of these opportunities came through church or a Christian organisation, but I honestly don't know if I would have looked for similar ways to volunteer if I wasn't a Christian, or just not thought about it at all.  When I look back over my life, I have:

  • Visited a church in Romania to help with their summer holiday activities
  • Sat at Bristol bus station to welcome international students to the university
  • Volunteered at a group for teenage mothers
  • Run a cooking club based around Christian festivals for primary school children
  • Attempted to teach Bible stories to 3- to 5-year-olds
  • Helped to lead a playgroup
  • Delivered cakes to elderly and isolated people over lockdown
  • Started volunteering at a debt clinic

So that's actually quite a lot of different people and activities - with a certain bias towards cooking and children, it seems - but while there were definitely some difficult moments in there, I don't recall any of those feeling risky.  Hopefully, despite that, they were helpful to the people involved, and communicated Jesus' love to some degree.

I guess where I'm trying to get to, is that it's easy to feel inadequate when we talk about risk-taking mission and service - or indeed any mission and service.  We assume we're not doing it properly if we haven't faced imprisonment, or gone to live with lepers, or something.

But maybe it's more about keeping our eyes and hearts open, and doing what seems like the obvious thing to do.  And who knows, we may find we've inadvertently taken some risks after all.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dove Valley Walk: Going round the bend

Somewhere between Marchington and Uttoxeter, the wiggles of the River Dove stop wiggling west to east, and start wiggling north to south. If it went in straight lines, it would make a right-angled bend. As I'm following the river upstream, this was my last section walking west. After this it's north to the Peak District and Dovedale. here the Dove swings north The main walk of this section was all on the south side of the river. But I also did a separate, shorter walk, to explore the village of Doveridge, and the old Dove Bridge which is tantalisingly glimpsed from the A50. Walk 1: Marchington to Uttoxeter I liked Marchington even more as I arrived there for the second time. I parked opposite the village shop - noting the "ice cream" sign outside for later - and near the brick-built St Peter's Church, with a war memorial built in above the door.  A few streets took me to the other side of the village, where I found a path alongside a stream, then across some hay m
Post a Comment
Read more

Dove Valley Walk: Meeting the Limestone Way

At Uttoxeter my route along the Dove Valley met some official long-distance trails. First the Staffordshire Way north to Rocester, then the Limestone Way continuing up towards Dovedale. Graham joined me on today's walk, which included the Staffordshire Way section and the first part of the Limestone Way. Unusually, it was a one-way hike; we got the bus back.   Uttoxeter to Ellastone Graham and I parked at Uttoxeter train station. It's very cheap for the day if you park after 10am, but I was worried about getting back in time for the school run, so we got there at 9:20 and paid the more expensive rate (still only £3).  We started off across flat fields towards the A50 and Dove Bridge. A group of young cattle gave us hard stares as we walked past. I posted a photo of a wonky gate on the Gate Appreciation Society with the caption "Parallelogate" and it quickly accumulated 200 likes - many more than this post will get!   Passing the old Dove Bridge again , we ploughed t
1 comment
Read more

San Antonio

San Antonio is towards the south of Texas and feels very much more Mexican than American. The balmy evenings, the colourful Mexican market, the architecture of the buildings, and the number of people speaking Spanish around us all added to the impression. The city, in fact, grew out of a Spanish mission and presidio (fort), built in 1718 as part of Spain's attempt to colonize and secure what was then the northern frontier of the colony of Mexico. Texas was then a buffer zone between Mexico and the French-held Louisiana, and Spain was keen to cement her hold on the area by introducing settlers and converting the natives to Catholicism and loyalty to the Spanish government. The missions in general had no great effect, but the San Antonio area was the exception to the rule, growing into an important city with five missions strung out along the San Antonio river. The first of these, San Antonio de Valero, later became well-known as the Alamo, where 182 Texans died in 1836
3 comments
Read more