Where Do We Go From Here

65 WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? season the river would flood, sand would build up against the dam wall and millions of litres of water would be trapped in that sand. The sand stops the water evaporating. Foot pumps would then move the water from shallow sand wells to newly terraced gardens and people would eat until next cropping season. Assuming that the rains did come. These were people who truly knew their land, their climate… and their vulnerability. When Paul spoke in the Areopagus and invoked the ‘unknown’ God, naming Yahweh as the source of all life, he made it clear that God did not live in man-made edifices. Paul also alluded to the fact that our ‘boundaries’, our allotted spaces, within the created order might help us to ‘grope towards God – even though God is not far from us’. Many indigenous people recognise God in the boundaries of the land. Western Christians, however, are often enslaved by the idea that our lives have no boundaries. Our Areopagus is filled with temples to the car, the international flight, the bank account, the shopping mall, the property portfolio and the quick fix – to comfort, security and relaxation. Should these ‘gods’ of ours die, we would once again have to rely on the land on which we live. In this time of climate change and over-consumption, the worship of our current ‘gods’ is alienating us from Yahweh, killing the land and poisoning the futures of many of the world’s most vulnerable. Perhaps, in this time of Lent, - or anytime - we might be called to repent of our exploitation of God’s created gift, changing our attitudes and actions so that life might flourish. If we refocus our hearts and minds, seeing God in the all that God has made, perhaps we will not only honour God more fully but also reclaim that sense of place which grounds us in wonder. Wonder that we are ‘made’ in love and for a purpose.