How do we pronounce that word? Apparently try Mar (easy bit) and then add the name of a current famous Liverpool player. Spent last night in Balestrate: here is our van parked and we stayed around the corner:
Nothing too hostile but an interesting place. The ‘host’ for our B&B was a throw back from the 60s (hippy era) and we entered our room to him and his ‘friends’ in a very heated discussion(!!!???) that indicated a certain amount of alcohol and whatever else had been present in the previous hours! The street I photograph is typical of many historic towns in Italy and also Spain. A very intense evening for us with not a lot of sleep involved but prayer and processing. We left Balestrate this morning but with our host opening his arms and ‘Sicily welcomes you’. We take that.
A colleague who has helped us a lot – Michael Schiffmann – had contacted us about a month ago with ‘the South-West holds the keys and you need to go there early on to discover revelation for the island. There is no South West as the island is a triangle. That showed that MS was not looking at a map or doing some google research (all valid) but giving what he had received. So we have been holding and seeking to process that and the South West (without there being a south west) puts us on the coast from Agrigento up. We settled on Marsala as the starting point and have secured for our next 6 days an apartment here. It will give us time to settle (been on the road for 11 days). Marsala was where Garibaldi began his campaign that ended in Italy being united. He landed in Marsala, from there conquered the island and then worked north on the mainland, thus before long ended the ‘two Sicilies kingdom’ as the border (the one we prayed on a few days ago) went and Italy soon united to become what we have today. A place of entry to that movement that interestingly had at its heart politicians, journalists, economists and ‘states-people’.
We know this is the next place for us – unfinished business for sure in Balestrate – but here we will sow something into the ground . Interestingly there is a ‘new gate’ into the city – probably where Garibaldi entered. (Map below… Marsala off to the left, Balestrate is just to the west of Palermo.
Sad to leave the high mountains (and Etna) behind but this is now the right place.
We have stopped in a number of places to see, pray and receive, but yesterday was the most focused of days. We had been given a word about taking time at a border for there we would receive for the ongoing journey and receive some kind of partnership with angels. Borders: Spain to France; France to Germany; Germany to Switzerland; Switzerland to Italy; and of course ‘smaller’ borders between provinces and the sea border between Italy mainland and Sicily is yet to come. So which border?
Borders are important and I am not too fussed what we make of ‘angels, principalities and powers’ but at the minimum they speak of authorities that either shape the context or are shaped by the context. I am not convinced we have to be correct in our theology but it sure helps to do our best to align with whatever the Scriptures are describing. Jacob encountered angels at a border both when leaving his family on the way to Laban’s household and also when he returned. Paul described how God had set boundaries for the peoples (and kairos times) so that they might seek after / stumble and find God. Hence boundaries are important and the crossing of them is what transgression speaks of and is a sure way to remove the environment where people can seek after and find God. (Of course there is much more to it than that, but to ignore the issue of boundaries and land we will miss a whole aspect of the release of ‘good news’.) Paul and Luke seemed to have used the Roman names for territory and Paul’s journeys were led by the Spirit but within defined geographical settings.
So which border?
We were convinced that the border we needed to give attention to was an ancient border – the northern border of the kingdom of the two Sicilies. To the north was the papal lands and to the south the kingdom of the two Sicilies.
It was the “Kingdom” par excellence. Its territory was delineated since the very first years of its creation under Roger II of Altavilla and remained unchanged along the centuries until its fall in 1861: its northern boundary followed a line that stretched out from Civitella del Tronto (south of Ascoli) to Gaeta and touched Leonessa, L’Aquila (north of Pontecorvo) and then continued south to the Tyrrhenian Sea; its southern boundary was the sea itself, including Sicily.
For around 730 years this territory holds that boundary. And of course in the history there are the inevitable clashes and alignments between so-called secular powers and the religious powers exercised by the pope. The uneasy history! The annexation of the two kingdoms was the effective start of the unification of Italy under Garibaldi (1860 onwards).
The map to the left is that of the ancient division, and we have been staying approximately 2 kilometres north of the line on the western coast. Noe Limiñana laid an ancient map over the current map of the area and came up with the border as being marked by a river – the Rio Claro. This is where we focused yesterday and (of course could be subjective) the witness in our spirit when we stood on the bridge over the river was very strong. The ancient border! We ‘felt’ (oh yes possibly simply subjective) that there was a difference one side to the other… angels going with us? I am sure there will be though neither of us had specific dreams last night – something that would be expected.
Coming off the bridge we smiled when we saw this sign on the sea front indicating the flow of water divides at that point. One direction back and one direction toward our destination:
As we travel today our prayer and speech will be concerning the open arms of God to one and all. Borders over coming years might change… but let them fit with what will facilitate a ‘finding of God’.
Coincidentally(?) a camp site on the border is named ‘Anastasia’, after the goddess. It was Paul’s proclamation of ‘Jesus and the resurrection (ἀνάστασις)’ that was central and misunderstood as two deities: a new one (Jesus) and an ancient Greek one (Anastasia). A good reminder – Jesus cannot be proclaimed without the resurrection… and if proclaimed then everything has changed and we have to live from that perspective, the perspective of the new creation.
Tonight we should be right down in the south ready to get a ferry tomorrow to Sicily. For sure angels go with us as they do with all who seek to partner with God.
Over the next few posts I will intersperse perspectives on Europe with a few comments on our journey… maybe half-way down Italy now with last night, today and tonight to be spent in Terracina. Sleeping under an ancient temple to Jupiter – well not under it literally, it simply sits on the highest point about 1km from where we are. Maybe if we get closer we will feel to give it a kick but seems pretty much without any current influence. We are here as we are within a short distance of the old ‘two Sicilies’ border that cut off the papal states to the north and the so-named kingdom of the two Sicilies to the south – two Sicilies as there was a base in Palermo (Sicily) and Naples/ Napoli (mainland of Italy). That border is our focus today. But this post is about Europe, as also is our journey and interaction with Sicily these months!
We all have perspectives and they are influenced by (in no specific order) our personality, experience, theology – particularly of God and of eschatology. It seems to me the most important thing is we act with authenticity and integrity – true to ourselves and to our convictions. I need to be open to correction, to change but I am not about (nor should I) to change easily. My convictions are mine. Not quite in the same league but before Jesus laid down his life he made the statement that no-one could take his life from him. We are not to be swayed easily. On some areas of theology I am in the minority (historically and currently) but I am not about to count the votes and go with the majority. I write that simply to say should you read these posts there is no need to agree, but they might explain the why’s and what’s of our lives.
There is perhaps a predominant view that Europe is post-Christian and ‘secular’, thus being without any real hope. Mine is that it is the centre of hope!
Two Stories
Nothing exegetical in what follows but for the past 25+ years the interlinked stories in Mark 5:21-43 have been important for me. They are the stories of the woman with the continual haemorrhaging issue and Jairus’ daughter.
In summary a woman who a) has been deteriorating in health for 12 years and b) whatever ‘solution’ the doctor provide do not improve her condition but c) she is getting increasingly ill. And a) a young girl born 12 years before with b) all the hope and joy that a new birth brings but c) one day falls ill and dies.
Maybe you are ahead of me but I see the ‘sick woman’ as a picture of Europe and the young girl as a symbol of where the hope and enthusiasm lies.
Historically, Europe was the cradle for the gospel, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth was understood by Paul to be throughout the oikoumene of the Roman Empire (e.g. Col. 1:6). From Europe beyond, but by the time the beyond was happening the ‘clothing’ for the gospel was that of Christendom – the making of ‘Christian nations’ (an oxymoron), with privileged and dominating position given to that form of Christianity. (Maybe this is why ‘Christian’ votes often go to the authoritarian option – perceived as more like God!!!????) My simplistic approach is not-perfect but not privileged pre-Constantine but centralised, institutionalised, dominating and oft-times oppressive post the ‘conversion’ of Constantine. (For a much better insight try Roger Mitchell’s Fall of the Church (Amazon link – will seriously need to repent today… but at least you can see the book there and order elsewhere.)
Thank God for Africa, far East, South America where there is a vibrancy and a rate of conversion to Jesus that should make us envious… that to me is like the young woman. Hope, hope and more hope. The future… But…
Imagine that the Christian faith is like a train on a track. The front carriages are the church in Europe, followed by other later Western filled carriages, followed by the places where faith in Jesus is vibrant. And the train-track has run out and would have needed to cross a bridge to get to the future. The first carriage(s) has fallen over the precipice – but the ‘problem’ is that it is one train… the other carriages are on the track, and go join them and do the charismatic two-step and rejoice but they will also follow suit. The young girl will speak of the future until…
My perspective!
I have (past tense) spent many months in Brazil. Huge the shift that has taken place there with coming to faith. But still huge manifestations of occult power. I have often said that 2% of a population with faith should have long-time ago shifted all of that nonsense. But I have been present inside a secure conference centre where each entrant has to have a pass to enter and voodoo priests have materialised inside with poison for our food! That should not happen… but if our focus is on power we will feed such manifestations. (To be clear I am all for the miraculous, healings and deliverances but the container is ‘presence’ and not simply power – another post another day?)
Europe. We will continue to be enthralled by what is going on elsewhere and I hope we stay deeply impacted by the wonderful transformative power of the gospel, but all of that can be like the doctors coming to the aid of the woman in the story. ‘Rather than getting better… spending all her money…’
OK I have made a start. The woman has to touch the garment of Jesus; the young girl will be discovered to be also carrying a gene that means maturity will not be reached. Work to be done in Europe for the woman is healed when the focus was on getting to the young girl. Hence my hope, my enthusiasm; but not to restore something that has been. No making that form of Christianity great again. Travelling paths we have not trodden before, but ancient paths that will show in spite of understandable despair we carry the same story I wrote of yesterday – in an obscure middle eastern province one person has been raised from the dead. Maybe sleeping under the temple to Jupiter is a good reminder – that was the Pauline world and they had much opposition but the gospel is the power of God to salvation – to the Jew first (religious power losing its hold) and also to the Greek (the sophisticated way of describing the oikoumene of the Roman Empire). The Pauline gospel, not the Martin gospel, nor the Reformed gospel, nor the gospel that is often on offer.
Let Europe be the place of discovery and restoration.
With or without a question mark? Doubt – not an enemy of faith, though it can be, or it can be a servant on the journey of faith.
First the big picture. Yes I have doubted many times and asked the question – even the question of ‘is there a God’? When all is well maybe the doubts don’t come, but I have noticed there are times when not all is well with life. Then there are the huge issues of suffering that I think demand a VERY heavy leaning into a God who does not control. Anyway what bottoms things out for me I think are three aspects:
The resurrection of Jesus. People just do not rise from the dead in that way – crucified, buried and on the third day not simply revived but resurrected. Fulfilling the Jewish hope that at the end of the ages those who died in faith will be resurrected. Ever such a crazy faith that we buy into. That in an obscure eastern province of the Roman empire someone has been crucified (there were times when thousands were crucified within the same immediate time frame) and has been raised from the dead and as a result there is a public message that Caesar is certainly not lord etc… And the first believers were Jews. WOWOOOWOOW.
The testimonies of Scripture and within history – many have gone before me, many through martyrdom. (Maybe other faiths would claim the same, but tied to the resurrection of Jesus, my convictions are strengthened.)
And thirdly my own experience. It lines up with what I read, and the Christian faith is experiential; it is relational. Paul wrote to the Galatian believers and appealed to their experience as one of the reason to pull back from legalism with ‘Did you experience so many things in vain?’. John Wesley had as one of his quadrilaterals ‘experience’.
Yes doubts, and yes if I were God things would be different! But faith like an anchor that holds on to heaven’s realities.
And the small picture. Last night we had a look at Pisa’s leaning tower. Amazing. But today we will hit the old border of the ‘Two Sicilies’. Sounds crazy but the border is between Rome and Naples – the two Sicilies being a kingdom that had a centre in Naples and one in Palermo. The night we have just had was restless and disturbed. Doubts on the one hand – what are we doing… nothing certain; no accommodation set before us… Are we simply stupid (no answers on a postcard).
And not surprising…. we are small people so small adventures can be very challenging to us; but also angels are waiting. They are often encountered at night at borders (read the entry and re-entry of Jacob). We will stay on the border two days… who knows? Maybe we will leave with doubts; maybe we will leave strengthened; maybe we will encounter some hospitality and never realise there were angels involved… maybe 100 possibilities.
Whatever takes place for sure I will have my doubts but underneath it all will not be strong faith, but the eternal God. So be encouraged today should any reader have a doubt or two!
We are en route – honestly we are. Just took a very important detour:
‘Home’ to Freiburg
The detour is simply to spend 2 days with Yannick, Jenny, Pheline, Samuel. A family we have known over the last decade or so. Honest, earthy, pray-ee type people. Why detour – to be with them, but also following the incident with Paul where he was ‘dragged out of the city… he got up and went back into the city’ we are absolutely standing with them for that. One more day here in an open city – and open of course to all kinds of spirituality. A creative, innovative city, alive with and for young people.
And a great piece of advice on the side of the kiosk: ‘pray… love… eat… sleep… repeat’. Wow – we can all do that and wherever we live would be healthier for it.
Another day here and then through Switzerland and into Italy, stopping one night (somewhere) and then on the following day to the old border between ‘the papal states’ and ‘the kingdom of the two Sicilies’. On the west side that border ran roughly half way between Rome and Napoli. The kingdom of the two Sicilies had two centres – Napoli and Palermo and was very active during the Bourbon reign – the royal line from Aragon in Spain. A few weeks ago we had a call with Jenny and Yannick (where we are currently staying) who both contributed that when we crossed a border there was to be a meeting with angels… we sensed immediately this was not a current border (France / Italy for example) but an ancient border. Research and up comes this ancient border. In Scripture angels are encountered at borders (see the travels of Jacob in and out of his land. Who knows what that will look like, but if there is a contribution that heavenly servants of God are to make to these two ‘close to clueless’ earthly travellers we are up for that.
Anyway that is 2 days away… and I must quickly get a shower as the next few days showers might not be accessed on a daily basis!!!
Very dramatic title… and not as significant as similar statements from John the Baptiser and on the lips of Jesus, but somewhat significant for us. Well we were so sure we would be going on Friday, so maybe this is the first plan of ours not to be exactly as we envisioned it? (Cut us some slack even Paul twice tried to move in a direction and the Holy Spirit had to resist him… oh and least he had a dream of a ‘man’ in Macedonia so followed the dream and met a… woman.)
We were not ready on Friday but today has arrived. And I also had ordered a package on Oct. 15th that I was unaware was sourced in China. It was due Friday, but they could not deliver it on Friday. Apparently a traffic issue; digging a little deeper the ‘last mile’ of the company is delivered by electric scooters – I think the traffic issue was the battery needed recharging. Anyway after multiple contacts with the company it arrived yesterday.
Anyway we are now an hour or so away from going ‘por la mañana’. That last phrase is definite – ‘in the morning’, but we (in good Spanish custom) when asked about when we are going could always reply (until today) with ‘mañana’. We think that might mean ‘tomorrow’, and it kinda does but also means ‘not today’. In English we have all kinds of ways to express uncertainty, but the (joke) in Spanish is they have nothing as definite as those phrases, they do have that word ‘mañana’ but it is certainly not as definite as ‘maybe’, ‘one day sometime’ etc. Anyway ‘mañana por la mañana’ has come and we will be gone – as soon as cup of coffee is drunk, floors are washed.
Tonight France, Sunday Germany to be with Yannick and Jenny in Freiberg, then head south through Switzerland (I bought a year long permit yesterday to drive through Switzerland – runs out in January, so a little peeved that we will only use the permit for a few hours), to Italy… not sure how many stops en route (my schoolboy French, along with the word ‘le weekend’) and down to the ferry.
And then? Well we have nowhere scheduled, do not have a place to stay (come on AirBnB sort out your prices), and have no fixed plan. Old capital of Syracuse, cities of Messina, Catania and Palermo (where or nearby where we think we will settle) will certainly be visited… and definitely Agrigento: try this to get an idea of one of the 7 preserved temples there:
By Berthold Werner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23442211n
An adventure for sure but like us all we take a small step / short drive to make a contribution to the recovery of the Pauline gospel…that good news that we can ‘see’ a new creation and be heralds of and witnesses to that future.
Maybe the question should be ‘How fast should we move at?’ or ‘What pace will get you there?’. Here we are Wednesday and not yet gone to Sicily – though Friday comes and we go! (A couple of weeks back we thought it would be Tuesday (yesterday).) A delay, or getting the right pace?
One of my mentors who travelled incessantly with me 1998 onwards used to quote Prov. 19:2,
…and one who moves too hurriedly misses the way.
When praying (maybe a month back) re our entry to Sicily it seemed clear to us that we were not going to enter quickly but the pace would pick up once we arrived (It better had as we have no accommodation there!). We have slowed down, not by deliberate choice, but a couple of circumstantial issues, that initially frustrated us (‘we want to get going!’) but have come to realise that it has forced us to slow down and see what rhythm we need to run (‘walk?’) at. Then this morning Gayle says… ‘I have been awake in the night and I wonder if we need to spend some days in…’, and the ‘in’ adds some 8 hours to our already 24 hour of driving. Ah well.
But bigger picture I wonder if God is teaching us a little – and the ‘us’ could be a larger ‘us’ than ‘us’. Lazarus is dead, so let’s get there… or wait a few more days. Those who wait on the Lord… maybe could be translated as ‘Those who others think are using up valuable time when they could just get on with it…’
I remember the words from the ‘MasterMind’ quiz program, ‘I’ve started so I will finish’. The buzzer went while asking the question but the host would always finish the question. I have started, and Paul spoke about finishing the race (maybe it was Priscilla, the author of Hebrews who said that?). Whoever said it (and sadly it is not likely that Priscilla wrote Hebrews) was talking about how we end our life’s journey, but I think we can apply it to every aspect. And if we learn the appropriate pace we certainly have more chance of finishing what we were so excited to be in at the beginning.
The long haul remains something we have to focus on. Given the global crisis (combination of crises) we might need to be ‘bailed out’ so we continue to pray ‘maranatha’ but continue to work on the basis of the inbuilt arc of the universe is toward justice (as described by many) or as journeying toward new creation.
And the long haul is made up of multiple small responses. And increasingly we need to learn to make the small response (scaling out, as I heard someone recently say, and not scaling up) alongside everyone else making their small response. One sows, another waters – both take time – and then there is an increase.
Timing is important, but also the pace with which we connect to the timing. So let’s see – Friday surely is not too soon?
So goes the title in this Guardian article: Spain expresses regret over ‘injustice’ suffered by Mexico’s Indigenous people during conquest with the opening paragraph being:
Spain has acknowledged and expressed regret over the “pain and injustice” suffered by the Indigenous people of Mexico during its conquest of the Americas, heralding a shift in tone after six years of diplomatic spats over the abuses of the colonial period.
After SIX years…
We don’t have the exact date but in 2017 I wrote A few years ago we went up to Colon (Columbus) square, Madrid, to pray the day before the so-called Columbus Day… maybe it was in 2015 and Gayle had painted a protest piece of art proclaiming (with a question mark) whether this was really ‘indigenous peoples’ day’ rather than ‘Columbus day’. We hid the painting amidst fairly strict security in a tree beneath where a huge Spanish flag was raised. I am sure later that day the painting would have been removed as the site was secured for the national display the next day. A few years later our friends from Calpe were in Mexico and carried a repentant spirit for the historic abuse on the land.
Two ways of looking at the outcome of ‘after six years of diplomatic spats’. A one to one connection – ‘we’ did this and look what happened; or coincidence as it would have happened anyway. And probably the reality is somewhere in between. Certainly the ‘we’ did this has to be significantly softened. When we think we are the only ‘we’ we will miss it totally, but I do carry a conviction that the body of Christ carries a responsibility to help clear ground so that genuinely ‘good works’ can be done by whoever stands in that place of implementing a shift. Here is a sweet statement from one of Sanchez’ cabinet:
It’s a very human history and, like every human history, it’s had its light and its shadows,” he said. “And there has also been pain – pain and injustice towards the Indigenous people to whom this exhibition is dedicated. There was injustice and it’s right to recognise that today and to be sorry for that, because it is also part of our shared history, and we can neither deny nor forget it.
I set up a WhatsApp group a while back entitled ‘not many smart’ as I m convinced that none of us are that smart. And certainly that is something that will accompany us as we travel (hopefully this week) to Sicily. We, excellent representatives of being qualified to belong to all ‘not many smart’ groups, will probably do something from time to time that will appear so limited, small and meaningless… and I hope over the next six months a stack of other people do the same. There will be no straight lines for any of us such as ‘we did / prayed this and look what took place’; some of it might be absolutely meaningless, but maybe between us all we might just be able to read in a few years’ time that something has changed. I am encouraged to continue to give it a clueless go. Hope you are too.
I had an interesting day yesterday. The first three emails I received and replied to were from people I either rarely hear from or never hear from. The first was from the wife of a couple who were the first people in 1997 to invite Sue and myself to a meal when we had moved into Cobham. (We were not married yet so had meals with our respective hosts: Ralph and Ruth, Richard and Linda… but Rosemary and Rob were the first to invite us outside of our hosts.) I probably have not seen / talked to Rosemary in 25 years. The second email was from a very gracious minister who has worked across Baptist churches (and beyond) and is somewhat restricted with respect to how much travel can now be done. The third email was to let me know that her father at 91 had recently passed away. Kitt was someone I met on a few occasions and was always impacted by his humility and desire to be always moving forward.
History impacting the present. Rewards from heaven for those who have been faithful. And impacts in my life. I wish to be faithful to leave a mark for others who are younger or more recently on the trail of following Jesus, but I also seek to keep my eye on those who are further along the journey and honour their faithfulness (an early email this morning I received was from a couple who are ‘celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this year’).
By the time I was replying to those three emails I recalled (and I have written about this elsewhere) that in 1991 I was in South Africa at Easter and one morning ‘saw’ a number of things to come. One was a sizeable number of young people who had caught the fire of God (not surprising as there was much talk of an army of ’11th hour workers’) but what caught my attention was that alongside this was a whole group of those who were 55 years old and above. The group might not have been the same size but it was certainly equally,and probably more, effective. Those people were mixed. Some had ‘early retirement’, some had been content to be attenders, others had thought that they were now too far through their lives to make a difference in our planet… but they all had the same element in common. They had recognised they had one life and whether the years remaining were short or long they were repositioning themselves and for many their latter years were more effective than all those years that had gone before.
I appreciate post 55, and certainly post 65, our energy levels drop, other challenges come in to slow us down and restrict us. But… if we are not looking for the public profile there will always be accidental and deliberate ‘cups of cold water’ and ‘2 coins in the treasury’ that can be done. I have been meditating on Paul (I call him a friend much to Judith’s amusement!) being dragged out of the city and left for dead. If we were to shrink the passage we would read, ‘dragged out… got up and went back in’. Love that.
Time for those of us not so young to find out what that might mean for us.
A number of people who are roughly my age (55+) have said to me recently ‘why can’t we do…’ In other words it is a mindset shift that has been provoked in them.
I have been frustrated (ask Gayle) why the average of those who join me on Zoom meetings is around 105 years old (ask Gayle I never exaggerate) – where are the 23 year olds I ask. They might come; they might not come. But what a resource for kingdom involvement is present with those who can only just remember what 23 looked like.
I honour those who have walked this path before and have gone on to receive a reward; I desire to see those who are 23 carrying a level of maturity that maybe a 46 year old and who have no fear; but I also see that now is an opportunity for the breath of heaven come to those who are no longer 23 but still have time left.
Got to make sure I have some cold water and am ready to deposit those coins.
