The theory, no job, travelling thoughts and a bike crash…

Having just moved up here I have little access to the internet, in fact I’m in the local Library now. The Library is good but it’s not the same as having your own computer…

I’ve been badgered to write something about my summer travels which I will do, but first I want to explain why I’ve ended up here.

“Urban Expression is an urban mission agency that recruits, equips, deploys and networks self-financing teams pioneering creative and relevant expressions of the Christian church in under-churched areas of the inner city”

That is taken direct from the urban expression website and it sums things up nicely, although you may have to think about it. I have in effect joined such a ‘team’. But to call us a team and to define ‘what we do’ and all those kinds of things perhaps detracts from what we’re about. Essentially, we live in an area, we share a sense of community with each other and we’ll listen to the local community around us and see how we can contribute in anyway. We are not here to set up services, but merely to serve (to coin an expression I’ve recently read). We are not doing anything special, but doing what I believe following Jesus seriously leads us to do, wherever we live. We are here as a group of people who share a hope in common, and we will attempted to see God in the ordinary and follow where he leads us -attempted being the optimum word…

So life at the moment for me is about finding a job, preferably local. Familiarizing myself with the area. Establishing routine and meeting new people. Then to get a place of my own.

On a more practical note: job hunting is a mission and apparently I’m living in the area hardest hit by unemployment, especially for the 18-25s, which I sit nicely in the middle of. For those of you who are praying types please bear it in mind, for others feel free to hope really hard for me…

And so some thoughts about my travels: it is perhaps clear from what I’m doing with Urban Expression that I like to be grounded. I like to be in a certain location, understand why I am there and focus why I am there, etc. I like to be in the world, it is where I find purpose and where I see God at work. On the road it is a different story – you are constantly moving, you cannot build real, meaningful relationships and your only real purpose is to travel more.

I hope I’m not belittling my travelling experience. I enjoyed it and had an amazing time. I learnt great things and met some amazing people. I wouldn’t have not done it, never. But the person who asked me to write something wanted this perspective and as he stated himself on the trip that I don’t need to remove myself from society to offer a critique, whereas he does. On the road I felt very much disengaged from society and so I found it hard to have purpose and meaning, I was simply traveling, and it was all for me, no one else was really involved.

I’d be interested to know if any of that really makes sense (I’m starting to think it is fairly obvious) and what people think about the whole Urban Expression thingy…also in unrelated news I fell off my bike Tuesday and had a visit to A&E, so I’m getting to know the local hospitals…