There. I've said it. I'm spiritually nomadic and have been for a few months. And I don't really like it, it's just that we've not really settled into a new church since moving.
It's weird, When we left Enfield we settled into a new church in Harlow really quickly, and I guess one of the reasons this whole thing is now on my mind is 'cos we're going back there on Sunday for the dedication of a baby of a friend of mine, then on to see my folks like we used to on a Sunday when we were at Enfield.
None of the churches we've been to here in Chelmsford have felt quite right. There are a couple more to try but if I'm totally honest I'm a little apprehensive about that. Not because I don't know what to expect... it's because at at least one of them I do know what I expect. Does that make any sense? Probably not. Ah well.
You see, I miss my mates. At Enfield SA, though I had lots of lovely family, I was never blessed with a lot of friends my age, the whole time I was growing up there. And as I grew up and V and I met, grew and changed spiritually it became pretty obvious to both of us that we needed to be elsewhere. But here in Chelmsford we're blessed with loads of friends, many of whom we've got to know through the cell group from Chelmsford SA we've been going to for about a year. But due to holidays and other things we've hardly seen them since the middle of August.
I guess we didn't realise how blessed we were to find Harefield so soon and thought it would be easy when we moved. But it hasn't. And it's rubbish. One of the best things about church at its best is its fellowship, and having not settled at a church we've yet to experience the fellowship we might have done if we had settled. And we haven't seen our friends from cell due to holidays etc. and I'm missing them and feeling, well, spiritually unsettled.
Now, please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with how Enfield is or was or how I, perhaps wrongly, expect Chelmsford to be. I just know that as far as the former was concerned it wasn't what we needed spiritually and I guess I'm a bit scared that the latter won't be either, but as loads of my friends are there I desperately want it to be...
So there you go. No fireplace, no pictures, no nothing.
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4 comments:
Oh Andy, sorry to hear that. It sounds tough. I will pray that you will find a 'spiritual home' really soon. I know how important Christian fellowship can be. Romford isn't too far.....!
Yeah Andy - thinking about you both...and God did great things through people who were nomadic in the bible, Abraham, Moses,.....yeah, them. So, don't despair. In the meantime - welcome to BLOGCHURCH!
Heh, blogchurch...
And thanks for the invite but another of the reasons we left Enfield was because we think that our church being part of our community is important.
And if we're travelling X number of miles to go to church, from personal experience whilst at Enfield it makes it that more difficult to be part of the community if you know nothing about that community!
Absolutely fair point there.
I have never been in this situation, but I guess that as we spiriually develop,our church takes a different role from time to time,sometimes to support us,which is the fellowship bit and sometimes to move us on, which I guess is the mission bit and that's where the surrounding community becomes important.
Hmmm!
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