‘We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.’ (v3) 1 John 1:1–4
Journeys introduce us to people we haven’t met before. On pilgrimage, we encounter and engage with a group and experience things together. Travelling alone, we still interact with people along the way.
All interaction offers both a learning and a sharing opportunity. Initially, this can be superficial as we seek to locate each other in a context we understand.
Some enjoy the safety of familiarity and the reinforcement of shared values. Others are hungry for new insights, to explore perceptions drawn from different life experiences.
Fresh insights can challenge all we hold dear. Yet, on a journey, we cross borders and experience different cultures. We become acutely aware of contrasts with what we customarily love and embrace.
In acknowledging differences, we’re not denying our experience and understanding. Yet, in weighing what we hear and observe, that understanding can be enriched. Equally, others gain insights from journeying with us.
Personal testimony, our own story, grounds our beliefs in reality. It places them in a context that others can recognise, discovering how our faith works in everyday experience. It lays the foundation for community, which we are all invited to help shape and sustain.
Differences need not divide us; they can deepen our appreciation and understanding of God, others and ourselves.
SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER: Prov. 3:1–8; 16:1–9; Heb. 10:19–25; 12:1–2.
AN ACTION TO TAKE: It’s very easy to get stuck talking with the same people. Why not invite someone you don’t know that well at church to have coffee with you? Enter upon a fresh journey of discovery.
A PRAYER TO MAKE: ‘Lord, help me to learn more about my faith in action as I listen to others share their experience of making sense of faith. Amen’
Image by Trixie Liko from Pixabay
