Migration is not an easy or a pleasant thing for a tiny bird to face. It must turn deliberately from solid land, from food, shelter, a certain measure of security, and fly across an ocean unfriendly to its life, destitute of everything it needs. We make much of the heroism and endurance of our airmen and explorers. Perhaps some day man will rival the adventurous hope of the courage, launching out with amazing confidence to a prospect of storms, hardship, exhaustion – perhaps starvation and death. Careful minds would hardly think the risk was worth taking. But tiny bird, before conditions force it – not driven by fear, but drawn by Hope – commits itself with perfect confidence to that infinite ocean of air; where all familiar landmarks will vanish, and if its strength fails it must be lost. And the bird’s hope is justified. There IS summer at the other end of the perilous journey. The scrap of valiant life obeys a true instinct, when it launches itself on the air. It is urged òform within towards a goal it can attain; and may reckon the suffering of the moment not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed.
– Evelyn Underhill
The decision that confronts the tiny chiffchaff is one that can face every Christian. This tiny bird had reached a stage in his young life when he must respond to an inner instinct which demands of him that he launch out into a world totally unknown to him. Only in this way can be pursue his existence to the full. Christians face the same decision; there comes a time when we are faced with the prospect of launching out into the deeper living of the christian life. It is a moment of decision which requires great courage and many fail to respond to the call to go on. They never really live to the full their christian experience, but prefer to live on in a half-world that is christian but which lacks any real depth.
This is perhaps the most important decision that we are called upon to make as followers of Christ. It is a moment in which the priorities of our whole life are determined. It is that moment which we find in the gospel offered to the rich young man by Jesus himself (Mk 10:21). He was a good young man who, when told what was necessary for salvation, replied that the Lord offered him more. ‘And Jesus looking upon him loved him and said to him, You lack one thing; go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me’ (Mk 10:21). Unfortunately, the rich young man was not up to the decision and turned away. How many have chosen to follow him rather than to follow Christ.
It takes great courage to proceed along the path to the Father beyond this point. It is true that we can see the goal and some of the things that need to be done, but the way ahead remains substantially unknown. We are asked to give up the security which we now possess, and set ìout on a little-used, over-grown path, and to leave behind the things to which we have become accustomed. It is clear that the way ahead is not easy: ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it’ (Lk 9:23). We have been forewarned that the way is difficult and must be ready for hardships, trials and exhaustion. We must walk the path which the Lord himself walked before us.
We find ourselves in the position of Abraham who, in the response to the divine promise left his country, family and father’s home and set out into the unknown (Gn 12:1-4). Like him we are drawn in hope, a hope founded on the promise of the Father. Like him we are called to a hope rooted in a faith that will be continually tested on the way. Like the chiffchaff, it is hope not fear motivates us to go on. Fear cannot be the motivation because the inspiration of this journey comes from One who inspires by faith rather than drives through fear. Our hope in the Father gives us a confidence as we reach out into the unknown, so that what seems to be the most presumptuous of actions is really the abandonment of ourselves to his loving providence.
What we are being asked to do is to let the God-seed within us grow to its fullest extent, to let our nature become what it was meant to become. Like the tiny chiffchaff, our launching out into the darkness of the christian life stems from an instinct deep within us: that instinct of the Divine implanted in us by our heavenly Father. We may seem little and inadequate in the face of the life that we are called live. Who are we as creatures to reach out to share in the life of the creator? Yet this is the creator’s will; it is He who draws us on, and we must have the courage to respond to his call. It is He who guarantees that there is an eternal summer at the other end of the path along which He invites us to journey.
– Bishop David Walker
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