People of the story
26/08/14 05:11
The first place I lived after moving out of the home of my parent was a college dormitory in Billings, Montana. I thought of myself as being terribly mature, but I really was short on general living skills. I knew the basics of how to cook, but I was getting my meals from the college food service. I had some of the skills of being a student, but the learning curve was steep. I had a part-time job in the college library that was helping to cover some of my expenses, but I wasn’t earning my living yet. I was fiercely determined to make it in college, but it was hard work for me and I would crawl into my bed at night exhausted from the day. It took me a while to make friends. Fortunately, I already had some friends at the college. My sister and a high school friends were students and there were several other students who I had met at church camp.
I lived in Billings during the school year for four years. Between the third and fourth year, I stayed in Billings and worked at a bakery instead of going home as I had the other years. During my years in Billings I got married and made plans to attend theological seminary. They were formative years. Since those days I have returned to Billings several times a year. Until 2005, Susan’s parents lived in Billings and we visited as often as we were able. Since then I have been through Billings on my way to other places, come to town for meetings, to visit friends, and for other reasons. I have watched the city grow and am often amazed at how much it has changed over the years.
But I don’t know this place. It isn’t my home. I am a visitor. The license plates on my car identify me as an out-of-stater. That is an interesting feeling to me because Montana, like many other states, has county identifiers on license plates. When I was a kid growing up, we always looked at license plates. When we saw the number 3, which is Yellowstone County, where Billings is located, we knew the driver was a “city” person, unaccustomed to rural ways. We had heard our parents and others warn about drivers with license plates with 3 on them. They wouldn’t know about rural gravel roads, and might become lost in the mountains.
Now I’m the outsider. I haven’t had Montana license plates on my car for nearly four decades. I guess that you always think of the state of your birth as home in some sense, but I haven’t made Montana my home since I graduated from college 40 years ago.
Still,there are familiar things about this place. I don’t need a map or GPS to find the airport or a grocery store. There are some restaurants and coffee houses that I recognize and can find. I understand the basic layout of the city and can get from one part to another with ease. I don’t feel like a total outsider when I come here to visit.
Over the years I have thought about place a lot. In 2006, we focused our sabbatical on the study of sacred places. We have made it a practice to visit sacred places of our faith and of the faiths of others when we have traveled. We have friends who live in many different places all around the world. In fact, we are in Billings today because of a visit of friends from Australia. Our adult children live in different states than we. I have siblings in other states. We are a spread-out people.
The Bible is filled with the names and descriptions of many different places. Our grandfather Jacob named many places during his years of traveling. Subsequent generations considered certain places to be holy. The exodus of our people from slavery in Egypt created a trail of places that had been left behind on our journey.
But at our core, we have never been people of a place. Although Israel is the name of a modern political country, it got its name not from a place, but from a people. Jacob was named Israel by God after wrestling with an angel and seeking reconciliation with his brother. The name Israel first of all refers to Jacob and secondly to the descendants of Jacob and only much much later to a place. And by the time there was a place named Israel, the people of Israel were scattered across the globe.
What holds us together is not a place, but a story. We are a people of history. We have chosen to remember the path that brought the present generation to this moment and we understand that ours is not the last generation of the people of God on this planet. Here in the time that is ours, it is our vocation to pass on the stories of the past to new generations.
Our identity comes from our history, and not from any single place.
Still, places have become significant to us. Some of them are significant because of the history that took place there. We remember where we were when certain things take place.
Billings is the place where I went to college. It was the home of my wife. It is the place where we were married. It is the city where we were ordained. There have been many significant events that in our lives that have taken place in this location. Our story and this place have become so intertwined that we can’t tell the whole story without mentioning this place.
It is always the people that make the place significant, but because we live our lives in places, the locations bring to mind the people with whom we have shared the journey. There are hundreds, and perhaps more, of names that I recall and associate with this place. There are now over a hundred thousand people who are making new stories in this place.
What is sacred is the story, not the place. But the place can remind us of the story. It is good to visit and to remember from time to time.
I lived in Billings during the school year for four years. Between the third and fourth year, I stayed in Billings and worked at a bakery instead of going home as I had the other years. During my years in Billings I got married and made plans to attend theological seminary. They were formative years. Since those days I have returned to Billings several times a year. Until 2005, Susan’s parents lived in Billings and we visited as often as we were able. Since then I have been through Billings on my way to other places, come to town for meetings, to visit friends, and for other reasons. I have watched the city grow and am often amazed at how much it has changed over the years.
But I don’t know this place. It isn’t my home. I am a visitor. The license plates on my car identify me as an out-of-stater. That is an interesting feeling to me because Montana, like many other states, has county identifiers on license plates. When I was a kid growing up, we always looked at license plates. When we saw the number 3, which is Yellowstone County, where Billings is located, we knew the driver was a “city” person, unaccustomed to rural ways. We had heard our parents and others warn about drivers with license plates with 3 on them. They wouldn’t know about rural gravel roads, and might become lost in the mountains.
Now I’m the outsider. I haven’t had Montana license plates on my car for nearly four decades. I guess that you always think of the state of your birth as home in some sense, but I haven’t made Montana my home since I graduated from college 40 years ago.
Still,there are familiar things about this place. I don’t need a map or GPS to find the airport or a grocery store. There are some restaurants and coffee houses that I recognize and can find. I understand the basic layout of the city and can get from one part to another with ease. I don’t feel like a total outsider when I come here to visit.
Over the years I have thought about place a lot. In 2006, we focused our sabbatical on the study of sacred places. We have made it a practice to visit sacred places of our faith and of the faiths of others when we have traveled. We have friends who live in many different places all around the world. In fact, we are in Billings today because of a visit of friends from Australia. Our adult children live in different states than we. I have siblings in other states. We are a spread-out people.
The Bible is filled with the names and descriptions of many different places. Our grandfather Jacob named many places during his years of traveling. Subsequent generations considered certain places to be holy. The exodus of our people from slavery in Egypt created a trail of places that had been left behind on our journey.
But at our core, we have never been people of a place. Although Israel is the name of a modern political country, it got its name not from a place, but from a people. Jacob was named Israel by God after wrestling with an angel and seeking reconciliation with his brother. The name Israel first of all refers to Jacob and secondly to the descendants of Jacob and only much much later to a place. And by the time there was a place named Israel, the people of Israel were scattered across the globe.
What holds us together is not a place, but a story. We are a people of history. We have chosen to remember the path that brought the present generation to this moment and we understand that ours is not the last generation of the people of God on this planet. Here in the time that is ours, it is our vocation to pass on the stories of the past to new generations.
Our identity comes from our history, and not from any single place.
Still, places have become significant to us. Some of them are significant because of the history that took place there. We remember where we were when certain things take place.
Billings is the place where I went to college. It was the home of my wife. It is the place where we were married. It is the city where we were ordained. There have been many significant events that in our lives that have taken place in this location. Our story and this place have become so intertwined that we can’t tell the whole story without mentioning this place.
It is always the people that make the place significant, but because we live our lives in places, the locations bring to mind the people with whom we have shared the journey. There are hundreds, and perhaps more, of names that I recall and associate with this place. There are now over a hundred thousand people who are making new stories in this place.
What is sacred is the story, not the place. But the place can remind us of the story. It is good to visit and to remember from time to time.