Usually when we say or hear the word “love” our thoughts go to a person or group of people. Although we also “love” our cornflakes or a host of other things, its not the same thing. But what about an emotional attachment, for lack of a better word, to a place, like a country, or a town or city.
A few years ago while I was living in Calgary, Alberta, a fellow pastor moved from Kelowna to one of my neighbouring church in Calgary. He was a friend whom I knew previously, and I looked forward to having him in the same city. And indeed the time that we were together, involved not only some duties that we shared between our two churches, but also a lot of fun lunches and good fellowship. My friend told me how hard it was for him to leave Kelowna. He described a special ritual that he developed for himself: on the day before leaving town, he made a special effort to visit all of his favourite places in the city, including of course the lakeshore from which he would launch his boat for fishing. He said that he stood at each of these various places, and silently said “good-bye”. There was an attachment because special memories were associated with each of those places. His experience intrigued me. He really did love Kelowna a lot, and it turned out that he went back there …. To retire and to die.
In the Bible we read that Jesus “approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes”. (Luke 19:41) Of course one can argue that it was the people living in that city that tugged at his heart, but sometimes we can regard a city and its inhabitants as one and the same, even as we refer to ourselves as “Torontonians” or whatever city we live in. And Jesus expressed some thoughts and feelings for some other cities as well: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes“. (Matt. 11:21)
So I thought about the places where I have lived and worked, especially the places where I was engaged in ministry. I won’t mention them all, but my first pastorate was in Toronto, which is about an hour east of where I grew up. Toronto was the “big” city … the one we went to in order to get or experience anything we couldn’t get in Kitchener. Now I was the pastor of a church there, and I arrived in the year that the CN Tower was completed. But I didn’t really enjoy living in that city. It was no fun trying to visit my parishioners who were scattered all over that vast city. I didn’t enjoy the smog and the rush-hour traffic that usually began at 3:00 pm.
My next place of ministry was in Kitchener, my home town, and I soon found out what Jesus meant when He said that a prophet is without honour in his home town. Then later on, I spent a few years in a small town that I didn’t like. It was an “old money” kind of town where new-comers were viewed with suspicion, and they clearly let you know that “you are not from here.” The church is well over 100 years old and change of any kind was anathema there. I didn’t last long in that town. My final 13 years of ministry were in Hamilton, Ont which is known for a lot of things, mainly steel. Also a famous university, whose medical school is renowned. Our church was located in walking distance from that church, and over the years some really neat contacts were made with students, and eventually we even had some doctoral candidates, and even a faculty number in the congregation. Now Hamilton was a city that I never liked, prior to coming there. Growing up, it was just a short drive from Kitchener, and so occasionally as a family we would go there, mainly for church events. The one way streets used to drive us crazy. But nevertheless I was eventually called to serve there, and I experienced something that I hadn’t in any of the previous cities – the church and the city grew on me. Living there was actually quite enjoyable. And I intentionally cultivated that, because by then I had learned that you can’t really be effective in a place that you don’t like, whether that is in a particular job, or a locale. And it prepared me for what was to follow.
I am now in Africa, in Kenya to be exact, for the third time. The first time was a 10 day visit before moving on to Cameroon and then last year and this year a 3 month season of teaching, and some preaching too. Now if someone would have told me that say five years ago, I would never have believed it. For one thing, Africa was never a drawing card for me. The things that we learned about Africa in Social Studies, and in Geography classes at school were things that I hated: snakes, bugs and other strange animals, hot climate, and more. But God has his way of dealing with His servants, and asking them where they would “like” to go is not one of them. More than once in my ministry have I served in places where I didn’t want to be, or at least would not have chosen. When I confessed this in my first sermon on African soil in 2015, I received applause. And from that moment on, I began to love the Kenyan people who have been and are so gracious and friendly. And the more I get to know them and learn about them, the more I love them. Now there are many things to adjust to while living here, but I choose to remind myself that this trip is not about me and my preferences, likes, and desires. I want to be effective in the things I am called to do, so I put my feelings aside. Faith is more important than feelings, and if we are faithful, sometimes God lets the feelings follow.