Looking forward....looking back

The iconic country singer, Slim Dusty, wrote and sang the song 'Looking forward looking back'. This song is an oft played favourite at funerals as it reflects on life and its struggles. There is an interesting verse in the song

"There are strange days

Full of change on the way

But we’ll be fine, unlike some

I’ll be leaning forward, to see what’s coming"

The verse prior to this talks about making sense of the past before moving into this verse regarding the future. In Luke's gospel there are a series of conversations which Christ has with those wishing to become disciples and follow him (Lk 9.57-62) all of which reflect the final line in the verse above. I am aware that I often talk about how the past often holds us rather than allowing our imaginations soar into the future but that is what Christ asks of us.

Lean into the future and not into the aridity of the past

In Galatians Paul speaks about being guided by the Spirit (Gal 5.16) whilst at the same time talking about our desires that pull us away from God. We are asked to be people who pull together with the commandment of Love our neighbour. We cannot do this if we are harbouring thoughts that have grown from petty disputes in the past. We all have out own way of looking to the future. We all have our own thoughts in what is the best. Yet, if we cannot reconcile this fact within ourselves we will never come together in Community. The expression of our desires and our thoughts are or should be just that and no more. Yet so often the hurts of the past colour how we hear what others have to say and place ourselves into a situation where we are not loving our neighbours but caring only for our own well being and hating everyone around us for not following our way.

Elisha knows that Elijah's time is over when he goes with him to the Jordan and beyond (2 Kings 2). Elisha could have I am sure brought up all sorts of moans and past issues to dissuade Elijah from this journey. We do it all the time ourselves as we sidetrack others with our own needs and wants. However, Elijah allowed the course of events to proceed because he was connected to the Spirit of God and knew that the future was God's not his. In looking towards our own journey in faith we are formed by what has gone before but this does not mean that we need repeat what has gone before. God does not always ask us to do the same thing but rather God calls us into newness of life. Only when we can accept that something new is calling us, that we must needs change to answer the call of the Spirit will we find the presence of God close to us having never left us in the first place.

It is we who abandon God. We wish to visit the things that hold us back from the future as it comes towards us and breaks in upon us in the form of Christ. Just as those would be disciples can find all sorts of excuses for not being part of the way that Christ beckons us to, we also are filled with the same excuses. We cannot abandon our lives. We must first say goodbye. We linger with those who would hold us back and dwell in the safety of the things we know.