Gone fishing

Calling in the desert (Mark 1:2) 

Desert does not mean sand. I know, it always conjures up and image of a Bedouin herdsman riding a camel for me too, but trust me, I've been to the Judean wilderness and it is definitely not sand. It means that it is deserted, or appears so. No human habitation, no domesticated animals, no rich forests or fertile fields. Desert.

So an odd place to go calling, you might have thought. Surely you should call in the city, or at least a decent sized town, if you want anyone to hear you and pay attention. These days stick it on the internet, post, re-post, share, blog, tweet, do anything to get attention in the echo chamber of virtual space. Don't wander off into a deserted place and have a good shout where no one can hear you. 

But, this is God's way of preparing the way for his son. And it works. People come from all over. He doesn't wander through their streets, doesn't invade their territory with his message. They have to come to him. They make 'paths' to his door, or at least his stretch of river bank, and thus open up a route into the heart of the people on which the messiah, who does come to live among them, can walk.

These days mission is all about getting out among the people. Messy church, school assembly, care home visiting, online broadcasting, comfy church opening. Yet when God planned mission the first thing he did was send someone out into the desert.

At Ffald y Brenin they did it a different way. When an Irish monk, Brynach, was looking for a place of intercession and prayer he settled on a remote hill in the Welsh countryside. It fell into rack and ruin Phillida Mould and her mountaineer husband unexpectedly discovered the crumbling farmstead and sensed God's Spirit move them to set up this remote retreat centre, a place of hospitality and prayer. Now it's influence flows out into the world. 

Of course we can't all rush off to retreat, though I suspect we could go more often than we do. What we can do is find a desert place of prayer where we are. Not necessarily deserted in the traditional sense, but empty of spiritual witness. A shopping centre full of desperate consumers, well, consuming or a remote hillside, with nothing but sheep, can both be a desert just waiting to be filled with prayer.

The path to the hermits hut outside Mondello, Sicily