THE MESSIANIC PILGRIMAGE

In my international work I have often been constrained by circumstances to remain in unfamiliar locations. This gives me the opportunity to contemplate my immediate environment, my relationship to it and how it all fits into God’s creation and plan. For example, my first experience of working in Uzbekistan made me think about how I would cope in an arid country of such seasonal extremes, where religious belief of any nature is barely tolerated, let alone encouraged. As always I welcome the opportunity to learn about other people, their cultures and their beliefs, because it seems to me that none of us has a monopoly on the truth. Humility in the face of God and his creation is perhaps the greatest lesson that I have learned through such experiences. The challenge – for me anyway – is always to know which of my opinions and beliefs are a function of my upbringing and which are part of a more fundamental truth. The former do not readily translocate from my own country into a place such as Uzbekistan – and there would be very little benefit in sharing them with people there. By contrast, more fundamental truths about God are relevant in any country of the world.

Is a land arid because we have made it so? In Uzbekistan much of the problem is very demonstrably a consequence of the agricultural monoculture (in this case cotton) imposed by the former Soviet Union, as any visitor to the Aral Sea region cannot fail to observe. Are people intolerant because in the modern world humility is not considered as a virtue? Certainly it seems to me that the least humble and most arrogant people tend also to be the least tolerant. Yet if it is indeed true that we are each individually made in the image of God, then what basis exists for such intolerance? Sharing is a two-way process. I do not feel in any way threatened by somebody whose beliefs may differ from mine nor do I seek to change them. The greatest gift in working internationally lies in being able to share with people: for when two people of different cultures respect each other enough to regard their differences as a blessing rather than a curse, then the place of both in God’s creation becomes clearer.