So #rethinkchurch is doing a pictorial Advent calendar…ok I’ll play along, as the Spirit moves.

This photo is one I took on the Ecumenical Pilgrimage for Peace that was a part of the World Council of Churches General Assembly in Busan, South Korea last month; this was departing the train, in the rain, in Seoul for the busses and the next leg of the journey.

If you are like me perhaps you get wistful each time you start off on a trip. I usually do have some trepidation before leaving no matter how excited I am. The Peace Pilgrimage was no different. All I knew was what time I was being picked up at my hotel, that I would be traveling by bullet train to Seoul, South Korea and then towards the border with North Korea, and that I would not return till the following day. Talk about not having alot of information…. I along with 1499 other pilgrims got on the bus to the train. We did not know if we were headed for the DMZ or the Peace Park until we got our train tickets. We had no idea where we were staying the night until after our day’s travel and immersion visit, and dinner, and an amazing cultural show. My word for that day was “vulnerable”; as I did not know if I was staying with a group or going to a host home by myself (a woman traveling alone in a country where she did not speak the language) until it was time to depart for where I would stay the night. It was an amazing day, all worked out well, all were safe and cared for even by strangers in a land where we may not have spoken the language. It was an amazing experience and our hosts had it planned in detail before we arrived, but I did not know that at first and I only discovered that because I overcame my fears and simply went to meet my bus at the appointed time.

It is not always comfortable when God calls us. We do not always know where we are going. Sometimes we may even wonder if God is speaking out native language or showing us in ways we would expect to understand. But God does call, and has called people throughout history, to simply “go” and the funny thing is amazing and unexpected things happen when people let go of their comforts and simply go when God calls them to do so. And the call may not always be implicit, it may be an unfolding of events, we may not understand it at the time. So this Advent what is it that you would rather do than what God is calling you to do? What would it take for you to let go and go forth? …It may be just be incredible beyond your wildest imaginings, of course you won’t known unless you go. Don’t worry God is already there.