September 21 2025

Joel Russell-MacLean

We are aware at certain times that a human life and the story of humanity are both a kind of journey. 

It is common to have hope that a better world is ahead of us. We have a sense at times that we personally progressing – just maybe not as much as we’d like! And sometimes we say, “There must be more to life.” 

Jesus taught us that we are travelling toward the resurrection and the day of judgment and the Great Renewal of all things. He also taught us that we are travelling toward our own transformation. 

The first Christians called their faith, “The Way.” 

The bible begins with the man and the woman leaving Eden’s garden, their home, and travelling east. The bible ends with humanity arriving home in the new heaven and the new earth, with God living among us. Humanity’s journey is a  “narrative arc” in scripture. 

The two key stories in scripture, the Exodus and Jesus’ road to the cross, are journeys. In fact, many of the bible’s other stories involve travel.  

Knowing our destinations matters. Knowing the road we are on matters as well. Our life is important down to its very last day, the day of our homecoming. Life and how we live matters because the journey must be undertaken in order to arrive home. Our growth comes from how undertake this journey. 

It is a journey toward our home with God. We are not alone. Just as God has joined people on their journeys going back thousands of years, God joins us on the way. Through Jesus, he calls us by name, he goes ahead of us, he comes to find us when we are lost or we stray. Jesus is our good shepherd along the way, leading us homeward. 

“With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;”

“Little Gidding”, Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot,

A Collect for this season:

You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; Your power is great, and Your wisdom is infinite. People want to praise You; humans, just a small part of Your creation; humans, who carry their mortality, the evidence of their sin, the proof that You oppose the proud: yet people want to praise You; they, just a small part of Your creation. You awaken us to enjoy praising You; for You made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.

Confessions, by Augustine of Hippo