Journeying with God

The Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson highlights how journeying with God calls Christians to action.

IN my sermons I occasionally reference films that have in some way resonated with me. The special effects in Jaws (together with two bars of music from the opening sequence) had many of my generation scared of going swimming, even in the local chlorinated, fully contained and miles inland, pool.

Star Wars had spaceships on a big screen flying in all directions.

Chariots of Fire had an iconic soundtrack that instantly transports people back to the cinema and the story of Eric Liddell in 1924.

I could write page after page of examples of films that, even with outdated special effects and iconic musical scores, have a special place in our memories as I am sure you could also. However, I want to share one more. In 1985 a teenager was transported back to the 1950s in a time-travelling DeLorean car (no, not me, I wasn’t a teenager in 1985). Back To The Future was a fun film (now a musical) with an improbable title that’s memorable.

With Christmas behind us and Easter fast approaching, our two major festivals take us back while pointing to the future.

“ With Christmas behind us and Easter fast approaching, our two major festivals take us back while pointing to the future.

Every year we revisit the Nativity and the Incarnation, then we journey through Holy Week to stand at the foot of the Cross on Good Friday before returning on the third day to celebrate the future we have in our risen Saviour Jesus Christ. When we look back through the scriptures, we are not looking simply at a point in history that would convert into a memorable film plot. It is much more. As we read in Hebrews 4, the Word of God is alive and active and then in 1 Thes 2:13, for God is at work in you who believe. As Christians we are journeying into our future with God.

The question I now ask is, how? Our role is not to observe and judge sequel after sequel of God at work in our world. Jesus calls us into action. To respond, to follow, to do, to go.

Being a Christian does not involve us sitting in a comfy chair with a bag of popcorn ready to pass judgement on what unfolds before us. We are on the stage and it is others who are watching. In our future, people will look back and view the evidence of God working in and through us by the way we have supported those in need by caring for the least of these: the poor, the prisoner, the homeless, the sick, the ill, the bereaved.

Like Christ, we do not do it for the recognition or the Oscar (for that would mean that it is not real, it would be acting). We play our part for we love God and all God’s children.

Looking back, we know God has been at work in our world. Looking to the future we know God will continue to be at work, through us. ¤

The Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2024/25 and minister at Strathaven: Trinity.