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Wanderlust is a teaching series of Society Church that is all about staying rooted in community and growing in our faith amidst a wanderlust world.
21st Century dream is not moving up a ladder or even down a path it is to put down deep roots to a people and place.
Jonathan Hartgrove writes in The Wisdom of Stability:
Like children stumbling off a merry-go-round, Americans are grasping for something to anchor our lives in a sea of constant change. According to an Associated Press report from April 24, 2009, the number of Americans on the move has declined sharply in recent years, reaching the lowest percentage since the government began tracking mobility patterns just after the Second World War… From homeschool parents who want to keep their kids closer to their moral center, to the Slow Food movement that wants to shorten the distance between where food is grown and where it is eaten, people are beginning to stand their ground against the tides of mobility. “Staying is the new going,” a friend quips. In the midst of the storm that rages about us, there is a movement toward stability… Humans long for the simplicity of a life that blossoms into its fullness by becoming rooted in a place & people.
Matthew 13:1-4, 18-19
1Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. 2A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. 3He told many stories in the form of parables (riddles), such as this one:
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. …18“Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: 19The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.
SOME SEEDS FELL ON A FOOTPATH:
Is life a Ladder, Footpath, or Garden?
Coming to terms with the state of our heart
“There’s a race of men that don’t fit in,
A race that can’t sit still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain’s crest; Their’s is the curse of the gypsy blood,
And they don’t know how to rest.”
― Robert W. Service– British Canadian poet
What Causes Footpath Living?
- Pain & Suffering
- Ignorance & Misunderstanding
- Sins of Commission, Omission, and Opression
Life as a Garden
What it means for us:
- It means we need to take note to the state of our heart.
- It means that God cares about your current situations not just your future plans.
- It means God might call you to stay when you want to leave.
The Importance of Brokenness, Crap and Time
Breaking Up the footpath:
Tri Robinson says in his book rooted in Good soil:
“Reflecting on Jesus’s parable of the sower, the only soil where the seed managed to take permanent root was broken and fertile soil. It is ironic to realize that fertile soil is soil that has been composted with animal waste, rotted garbage, and microorganisms of every kind. Somehow God is able to do his best work in the depths of the compost of our lives. “
- Embracing Brokenness
- Owning the Crap
- Give it Time
Conclusion:
Jonathan Hartgrove writes:
Christian wisdom about stability points us toward the true peace that is possible when our spirits are stilled and our feet are planted in a place we know to be holy ground. When we get this stability of heart deep down inside of us, real growth begins to happen.
Ephesians 3:17:
Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
My hope is through this series that we might become a people anchored to the love of Christ not with a chain but with roots of his love growing from our lives keeping us strong.
That we would become a people that Isaiah prophesied about long ago when he said:
Isaiah 61:4:
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.
