July 2010

John Rubens has been Pastor of the church since 1997. For many years he combined this work with his work for Evangelical Press, based in Darlington, from which he has recently retired

This month Pastor Rubens has invited Jim Holmes to write this page. Jim is a Director of Day One Publications and a member of the church. He and his family are shorlty to relocate to the United States to continue his work with Day One.

A Pilgrim’s Progress

The word ‘journal’ is an interesting one: it comes partly from the French word, ‘jour’ meaning ‘day’. The word ‘journey’ likewise comes from the same French and Latin roots. In times past, a journey was something that often would take many days.

‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ is a remarkable example of a journey. In his spiritual allegory, Bunyan, in masterly brush-strokes, paints the picture of a principal character moving through life on a journey—to the Celestial City, Heaven.

The characters described in Hebrews 11 have this in common: they were all on a journey. Theirs was a journey to glory. And we are to tread the same path. The writer of ‘Hebrews’ expressed it in these terms (vv 8-10): ‘By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.’

A journey is undertaken one day at a time. The spiritual parallel should be immediately apparent. Do you take steps each day in your walk with God? Is your heart set on what is yet to come, rather than what has already been accomplished in your life? Is Jesus Christ increasingly precious to you? (See 1 Peter 2:4.) Does the Word of God increasingly shed light on your pathway? (See Psalm 119:105.) Slow as it may seem at times, is your knowledge of the Bible, and of Christian teaching, increasing? (See 2 Peter 3:18.)

Augustine once memorably wrote that death is ‘only a migration’. Our minds are much engaged at present in planning our relocation to America. Yet how much more should we be in preparation for that great migration to Heaven where we shall see Jesus, the Head of the Church, and where all things will forever be well.